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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

AT   LOS  ANGELES 


^ 


^ 


LETTERS 


TO    THE 


RIGHT  REV.  JOHI  HUGHES, 

ROMAN  CATHOLIC  BISHOP  OF  NEW  YORK. 


REVISED  AND  ENLARGED. 


BY     K  I  R  W  A  N. 


(I     •*  »  » 


NEW    Y  O  n  K  : 
n  A  R  r  E  n   &   n  r  o  t  n  e  r  .s,  r  i;  n  i,  i  s  ii  r  r  .s, 

F  K  A  N  K  I.  I  N     N  Q  U  A  n  E. 

1855. 


Kiilcrcil,  acooriling  to  Acl  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  lliousand 
ciglil  liiindrcd  and  fifty  five,  hy 

JIari'KR   &    B  HOT  hi:  lis, 

in  ihc  Clerk's  OfTiee  of  llio  District  Court  of  ilie  Southern  District 

of  New  York. 


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TO 

DC 

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^     THE  REV.  ALEXANDER   DUFF,  [).U.,   LL.I)., 


TItE   GREAT   MISSIONARY'   OF    SC:OTLAND ;    THE   APOSTLE    OF   IN- 
DIA;  THE  LIVING  MODEL  OF  AN  APOSTOLICAL  MINISTER; 
ro  WHOSE  NAME  AND  WHOSE  LABORS  ARE  THE 

—  COMMON  PROPERTY  OF  THE 

— »  CHURCH  OF  GOD, 

STIjfs   TTolumr    f»   JDctifratct) 

liV    ins    FRIEND, 


a. 

CO 


'■ti  Tin:  A  I' T II oil. 

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TiV 


PREFACE  TO  HARPER'S  EDITION. 


I  SHOULD  not  feel  otherwise  than  greatly  thankful  to 
God  for  the  favor  with  which  my  letters  to  Bishop 
Hughes  have  been  received  by  the  Christian  world,  and 
by  multitudes  educated  in  the  faith  of  Rome.  Having 
gone  through  many  and  large  editions  in  the  United 
States ;  having  been  republished  in  England,  Scotland, 
Ireland,  and  the  Canadas  ;  having  been  translated  into 
the  German,  French,  and  Spanish,  and  by  American 
missionaries  into  some  of  the  languages  of  India,  they 
have  been  read  in  all  countries  where  the  human  mind 
is  in  any  adequate  measure  awake  to  the  examination 
of  the  differences  between  the  religion  of  the  Bible  and 
the  religion  of  Rome. 

For  a  few  years  past  they  have  been  in  the  exclusive 
possession  of  the  Bt)ard  of  Publication  in  Philadelphia, 
by  which,  through  its  religious  and  benevolent  chan- 
nels, they  have  met  with  a  wide  circulation.  iM-cJing 
that  they  were  too  much  coMfinod  to  such  cliiumcls, 
and  that  they  were  almost  excluded  from  the  general 
book-trade,  with  the  consent  of  that  Board  I  have  pre- 
pared the  present  edition. 

The  Letters  themselves  have  been  revised,  correct- 
ed, enlarged,  and,  I  trust,  improved. 

As  the  large  editions  of  the  address  on  "  The  OccliiK^ 
of  Popery  and  its  Causfs"  have  been  cxlinnsted,  and  as 


vi  ruEi'AiM;    to    uaki'kk's    i; dition. 

it  is  now  out  of  print,  it  has  boon  added  to  the  present 
vohiinc.  The  Publishers  prefer  meeting  the  demands 
for  it  in  this  way  to  reproducing  it  in  its  original  form. 
Its  facts  and  arguments  are  of  permanent  utihty. 

This  edition  goes  to  the  pubhc  when  the  whole  coun- 
try is  awake  to  the  enormities  of  popery  as  to  its 
claims,  its  doctrines,  its  policy,  its  practices,  and  when 
the  grinding  tyranny  and  atrocious  selfishness  of  its 
bishops  and  priests  are  undergoing  a  thorough  investi- 
gation. To  help  on  this  good  work,  a  letter  introduc- 
tory has  been  prefixed,  to  prove  and  to  illustrate  that 
"  Romanism  is  not  the  Religion  for  America."  And 
if  the  excited  feeling  of  the  country  should,  by  any  pos- 
sibility, assume  a  tinge  of  intolerance,  it  may  be  attrib- 
uted to  the  arrogance  and  bad  conduct  of  the  prelate 
to  whom  these  letters  are  addressed  more  than  to  all 
other  causes  combined.  He  has  utterly  disregarded 
the  advice  of  Norfolk  to  Buckingham,  when  roused  by 
the  intrigues  of  Wolsey,  and  is  suffering  the  conse- 
quences : 

"  Heat  not  a  furnace  for  your  foe  so  hot 
That  it  do  singe  yourself:  we  may  outrun, 
I3y  violent  swiftness,  that  which  we  run  at, 
And  lose  by  ovcr-runnLng." 

KiRWAN. 

New  York,  May,  185.5. 


INTRODUCTORY   NOTE 

TO    THE    FIRST    SERIES. 


The  pages  that  follow  were  written  in  the  form  of 
letters  to  Bishop  Hughes,  that  they  might  readily  gain 
the  attention  of  those  for  whose  benefit  they  are  de- 
signed. The  writer  is  a  gentleman  who  has  never 
taken  any  part  in  the  Romish  controversy,  but  having 
been  educated  in  the  Church  of  Rome  by  parents  of 
that  faith,  and  having  remained  in  that  communion 
until  mature  years  and  patient  thought  enabled  him 
to  judge  for  himself,  he  became  calmly  but  decidedly 
convinced  that  he  must  leave  it,  and  seek  the  religion 
of  the  Bible  among  Protestants, 

In  these  pages — the  result  of  his  own  experience 
and  observation — he  gives  the  reasons  that  compelled 
him  to  abandon  the  Church  of  his  fathers,  and  the  rea- 
sons why  he  can  not  return  to  her  embrace.  The  let- 
ters are  written  with  great  courtesy,  frankness,  and 
ability,  with  the  sprightly  humor  of  an  Irishman  to  an 
Irishman,  and  with  an  clocjuencc  and  earnestness  that 
often  remind  us  of  some  of  the  most  celebrated  passages 
from  the  Irish  bar.  They  were  first  published  in  the 
New  York  Ohsrrrrr,  and  were  thence  widely  copied 
into  other  papers.  'J'hf^y  have  lieen  extensively  sought 
for  by  ('at holies  who  are  beginning  lo  inquire  after  1h(i 
truth,  and  by  others  who  wish  to  put  tli<ui  into  tin- 
hands  of  those  who  an-  willing  to  read. 


Vm  I  iN  T  R  O  D  U  C  T  O  U  Y     NOTE. 

The  temper  of  the  letters  commends  them  to  a  can- 
did perusal,  and  the  clearness  of  the  argument  and  il- 
lustration will  carry  conviction  to  the  minds  of  those 
who  have  the  independence  to  decide  for  themselves 
by  the  light  of  the  Bible  and  common  sense. 

The  letters  were  furnished  to  me  under  an  injunc- 
tion of  secresy  as  to  the  author's  name ;  and  having 
been  requested  by  many  individuals  and  societies  to 
give  them  to  the  public  in  a  form  for  preservation  and 
further  circulation,  it  is  proper  to  say  that  the  writer's 
character  is  an  abundant  guarantee  for  the  fidelity  of 
all  the  matters  of  fact  here  stated,  and  that  he  is  pre- 
pared to  maintain  them  if  they  should  ever  be  called 
in  question.  Samuel  I.  Prime. 


C  0  N  T  E  N  T  8. 


LETTER  INTRODUCTORY. 
Romanism  is  not  the  Religion  for  America Page  13 

LETTER  L 
Introduction  37 

LETTER  II. 
Causes  of  early  Misgivings. — Priestly  Miracles. — Purgatory. — Pray- 
ing to  Saints 43 

LETTER  III. 

Causes  of  early  Misgivings  continued. — Confession. — Holy  Wells. — 
Prohibiting  the  Bible. — An  Incident 49 

LETTER  IV. 

Transition  from  Popery  to  Infidelity. — Inquiry  awakened. — Abstinence 
from  Meats. — The  Mass. — Confession. — Transubstantiation. — Reli- 
gion vanishes G 1 

LETTER  V. 
Popery  makes  the  Masses  superstitious,  the  intelligent  Infidels. — Who 
go  to  Confession? — Ireland. — France. — Other  countries. — Reasons 
why  Popery  debases. — Tiic  Days  of  Popery  numbered 68 

LETTER  \I. 
Popery  has  degraded  Ireland. — Evidences  of  its  Degradation. — Absen- 
teeism.— Sub-letting — Tithes. — The  Priest's  cry  for  Money. ...   75 

LETTER  VII. 
Reasons  for  not  returning  to  the  Papal  CInirch. —  Proiiibition  of  llic 
Scriptures.  —  The  Way  and  Manner  of  Paj)al  Worship. — Ceremo- 
nial Law  of  Popery.  —  Obstructions  raised  between  <jod  and  the 
Soul 82 


X  CON  T  i;  N  '1"  s. 

LKTTEll  VIII. 
Farther  Reasons  for  not  returning  to  the  Papal  Church. — Celibacy  of 
the  Clergy. — Auricular  Confessions. — A  call  on  Irish  Papists  to  as- 
sert their  Rights Page  90 

LETTER  IX. 
Reasons  which  prevent  from  returning  to  the  Papal  Church  continued. 
— Purgatory. — Transubstantiation 98 

LETTER  X. 
Is  the  Church  of  Rome  a  Church  of  Christ  1 lOG 

LETTER  XI. 
The  Effects  of  Popery  on  Liberty,  Knowledge,  Happiness,  true  Reli- 
gion      IIG 

LETTER  XII. 
Conclusion  of  the  whole  matter 124 


SECOND    8  E  R  I  E  S. 

IxTnoDUCTiox Page  135 

LETTER  I. 
Reasons  for  this  Second  Series. — Why  addressed  to  Bishop  Hughes. 
— Evil  days  have  come  upon  Popery 139 

LETTER  II. 

Extreme  Unction.  —  Its  Meaning. — The  way  of  administering  it. — 
James,  v.,  14,  15. — It  enriches  the  Church. — An  Incident 14G 

LETTER  III. 
The  pretended  Sacrament  of  Penance  described. — Xo  Scripture  War- 
rant for  it. — Its  Absurdities. — A  personal  Inquiry 154 

LETTER  IV. 

Miracles. — Milner's  Vindication. — Many  Examples. — Legends  of  the 
Saints. — A  Miracle  of  my  own  working. — Why  so  few  Miracles 
since  the  Reformation 103 


CON  T  E  N  T  !<.  XI 

LETTER  Y. 

Marks  of  the  Papal  being  the  true  Church  considered. — Unity — Sancti- 
ty— Catholicity — Apostolicitj' — Infallibility Page  173 

LETTER  VI. 
Relics. — Relics  the  Parent  of  Miracles. — The  Importance  of  Relics. 
— Specimens  of  Relics. — The  Abuses  of  Relics. — Indulgences — To 
whom  and  by  whom  granted — Their  fearful  Effects 182 

LETTER  VII. 
Unmeaningness  of  Romish  Doctrines  and  Ceremonies. — Baptism. — 
The  Mass. — Penance. — Extreme  Unction. — Holy  Water. — Prayers 
to  the  Saints. — Withholding  the  Scriptures 192 

LETTER  VIIL 

The  Destiny  of  the  Papacy. — Its  Growth. — Its  History  not  yet  writ- 
ten.— The  Reformation. — Reasons  for  the  Extinction  of  Popery  : 
1.  Incapable  of  Reformation;  2.  Its  Reformation  impossible;  3. 
Opposed  by  the  Intelligence  of  the  World  ;  4.  By  its  Piety  ;  5. 
The  Causes  which  gave  it  Origin  passing  away  ;  6.  Its  Extinction 
ordained  ;  7.  How  it  is  to  be  done 202 

LETTER  IX. 
To  all,  and  especially  to  American,  Roman  Catholics 212 

LETTER  X. 

Conclusion. — The  Indian  Devotee. — Faith  in  Christ  saves. — The  dy- 
ing Thief —Peter  at  the  Feast  of  Pentecost. — The  Plan  of  Salva- 
tion.— The  Gospel  and  Papal  Way  of  Salvation  contrasted. — A  Call 
upon  Irish  Roman  Catholics 221 


^JMI  I  II  ])    Si:  RI  ES. 

Introductory  Note Page  233 

LETTER  I. 
Introduction.  —  Free   DiHCUssion    im[)orfant.  —  Bishop    Hughes   com- 
mencing atiHwrring  before  reading  Kirwan. —  Kxcuhc  for  the  Charge 
of  InHinrrrity  — Other  Accounts  Hettled. — Controversy  on  Roman- 
ism among  the  People. — Object  of  these  Letters 235 

A2 


XU  CONTENTS. 

LETTER  II. 

Bishop  Hughes's  Letters  characterized.  —  Coolness  of  their  State- 
ments.— Their  Argument  one  enforcing  Despotism. — Tlie  Princi- 
ple that  the  Bible  has  no  Authority  but  what  the  Church  gives  it, 
and  that  it  must  be  understood  as  the  Church  interprets  it,  exam- 
ined   Page  244 

LETTER  III. 
Examination  of  Church  Interpretation  continued 253 

LETTER  IV. 

Examination  of  Church  Interpretation  continued.  —  Its  destructive 
Consequences. — It  is  a  monstrous  Assumption 261 

LETTER  V. 

The  Papal  Church  Theory. — A  Mistake  in  selecting  Peter  for  the  Ti- 
ara.— The  Prayer  of  Christ  for  Peter  realized  for  him  and  all  his 
Successors. — The  question,  ^^'as  Peter  Pope  1  examined 2Ci) 

LETTER  VI. 

"Was  Peter  Pope  1 — Examination  continued. — But  two  Arguments  that 
can  not  be  answered. — Tillotson's  Opinion 278 

LETTER  VII 
Papal  Claim  to  Infallibility  examined  and  refuted 287 

LETTER  VIII. 

The  Assertion  that  there  are  but  two  Principles,  Authority  and  Rea- 
son, for  the  determining  of  the  Meaning  of  Scripture,  examined  and 
confuted 29G 

LETTER  IX. 
The  Bishop's  six  Letters  to  Kirvi'an  reviewed 307 

LETTER  X. 
An  Appeal  to  all  Roman  Catholics 320 


The  Decli.ve  of  Popery  a.nd  its  Causes 333 


LETTER  INTRODUCTORY. 


ROMANISM  NOT  THE  RELIGION  P^OR  AMERICA. 
Change  of  opinion.  Causes  of  it. 

Since  the  publication  of  the  first  series  of  the  fol- 
lowing letters  to  Bishop  Hughes,  the  feelings  and  opin- 
ions of  the  country  have  undergone  a  great  change  on 
the  subject  of  Romanism.  We  simply  state  this  as  a 
fact,  and  not  Avith  any  design  of  pointing  to  the  cause. 
Many  causes  have  arisen  to  produce  tliis  change.  The 
doctrines  and  claims  of  Romanism  have  been  laid  o})en 
to  public  view.  The  attempts  at  revolutions  in  Eu- 
rope have  taken  place,  in  all  of  which  Rome  took  the 
side  of  despotism.  The  Pope  returned  to  the  Tiber 
from  his  Hegira  to  Gaeta  and  Portici,  and  overthrew 
the  republic  there  established  during  his  absence,  and 
was  conducted  to  the  Vatican  by  a  foreign  mercenary 
.soldiery  over  the  dead  bodies,  and  wading  in  the  blood, 
of  his  people  ;  and  in  the  Tabernacle,  the  denuncia- 
tions of  Pio  Nono  as  a  tyrant  have  succeeded  to  the 
hosannas  which  were  smig  to  him  as  a  patriot.  The 
efibrts  made  by  papal  priests  to  exclude  the  Bible  from 
our  public  schools  have  opened  many  eyes.  The  pop- 
i.sh  press  has  spoken  out — has  denounced  liberty  of 
conscience  and  the  right  of  private  judgment  as  here- 
sies, and  has  honestly  told  us  that  papists  were  only 
waiting  for  the  power  to  suppress  both  I     The  property 


14  I-  E  T  T  E  U     I  A  T  R  O  D  U  C  T  O  R  V. 

Priestly  power.  Gavazzi.  Discussion. 

question  has  arisen ;  Bedini  was  sent  over  as  nuncio 
to  settle  it ;  and  the  controversy  in  reference  to  it  has 
revealed  the  grasping  avarice  of  the  priests,  their  jeal- 
ousy of  their  own  people,  and  how  full  of  wrath  are 
their  vials  when  their  will  is  resisted. 

"Wielding  their  spiritual  power  to  control  the  politi- 
cal views  of  their  people,  priests  have  interfered  in  our 
elections,  and  have  put  up  the  votes  of  their  dupes  to 
the  highest  bidder. 

The  blood  of  American  citizens,  in  the  quiet  exer- 
cise of  their  rights  at  the  polls,  has  been  shed  by  for- 
eign papists. 

The  noble  defense  of  liberty  of  conscience  to  all  peo- 
ple, and  in  all  lands,  by  the  Nestor  of  the  American 
•Senate,  Greneral  Cass,  has  been  made,  and  it  has  been 
assaulted  by  Bishop  Hughes  in  such  a  way  as  to  ex- 
pose not  merely  his  weakness  as  a  man,  but  his  adher- 
ence to  persecuting  principles. 

Gavazzi  has  visited  our  country,  exiled  from  Italy 
for  his  free  principles,  and  has  exposed  the  principles, 
the  policy,  and  the  designs  of  the  Pope  and  the  Jesuits. 
He  was  a  competent  witness  from  the  heart  of  the  sys- 
tem, and  who  could,  with  burning  eloquence,  tell  us 
what  he  knew,  and  saw,  and  felt. 

Discussions — discussions  which  bear  to  purity  of 
sentiment  the  same  relation  which  do  hi^h  winds  and 
storms  to  purity  of  atmosphere,  have  been  held  in  ev- 
ery variety  of  form  all  over  the  country,  in  which  the 
people  have  been  made  to  see  how  enormous  are  the 
claims  of  Romanism,  and  how  imperative  is  the  duty 
to  resist  them. 


LETTER     IXTRODUCTOR  Y.  15 

The  press.  Political  truckling.  The  Bible. 

Ill  one  way  or  another,  the  claims  of  Romanism 
have  been  discussed  in  the  halls  of  Congress,  and  in 
many  of  our  State  Legislatures ;  and  the  press,  as  with 
a  thousand  tongues,  has  echoed  these  discussions  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  from  the  extreme  south 
to  the  extreme  north.  These  discussions  in  high  places 
have  gone  down  among  the  people,  and  are  carried  on 
with  more  or  less  interest  in  every  community,  in  al- 
most every  work-shop  in  the  land. 

These  causes,  together  with  the  truckling  of  our  pol- 
iticians to  the  priests,  in  order  to  secure  the  votes  of 
their  people,  have  aroused  the  American  feeling  to  an 
unwonted  degree,  and  have  given  rise  to  an  American 
party,  which,  if  wisely  managed,  will,  for  all  future 
years,  place  these  United  States  beyond  all  fear  from 
the  priests  and  partisans  of  Rome  ;  and  if  there  is  any 
one  opinion  in  which  the  masses  of  our  people  more 
cordially  unite  than  another,  it  is  in  this,  thai  Roman- 
ism is  not  the  religion  for  the  United  States;  and 
for  this  oj)inion  there  arc  the  most  substantial  reasons, 
a  few  of  which  we  shall  hero  state : 

T.  The  people  of  the  United  States  reverence  and 
honor  the  liiblc.  Wo  are  an  amalgam  of  all  nations, 
and  kindreds,  and  tongues,  and  people.  The  gay  and 
trifling  French,  the  plodding  German,  the  slow  and  so- 
ber Hollanders,  the  suspicions  Spaniard,  the  English 
cavalier  and  Puritan,  the  solemn,  unbending  Scotch, 
and  the  witty  and  fun-loving  Irish,  have  all  largely 
contributfid  to  mir  present  population.  The  people 
from  thoj^e  countries  brnught  witJi  them  here  their  pc- 
rulinritics  i)^  language,  customs,  prejudices,  religion  ; 


16  L  K  T  T  K  K     IN  T  U  O  D  U  U  T  O  U  Y. 


Uno  great  principle.  Tlio  Uiblo  every  where. 

but  these  have  been  mainly  lost  by  their  descendants, 
who  have  grown  up  amid  our  free  and  generous  insti- 
tutions. As  our  great  Mississippi  imparts  its  own  pe- 
culiar color  to  all  the  waters  that  are  poured  into  its 
deep  channels  by  all  its  great  and  small  tributaries, 
and  then  pours  them  out  into  the  ocean,  so  do  our  in- 
stitutions impart  their  peculiar  character  to  all  our 
people  ;  and  those  who  will  not  receive  it  are  regarded 
as  dry  trees  among  those  which  are  vigorous  and  fruit- 
bearing — dead  at  the  top,  and  decaying  all  over,  be- 
cause diseased  at  the  root.  We  are  not  all  a  religious 
people,  nor  are  wc  united  in  our  belief  as  to  the  doc- 
trines of  faith  or  the  forms  of  worship.  But  if  there  is 
any  one  great  principle  which  has  obtained  more  wide- 
ly among  our  people  than  another,  ii  is  a  love  and 
reverence  for  the  Bible.  It  was  brought  here  equally 
by  the  Cavalier,  the  Huguenot,  and  the  Puritan  ;  upon 
its  principles  all  our  civil  and  social  institutions  are 
founded.  It  has  gone  up  to  our  universities,  and  down 
to  our  primary  schools  ;  its  great  doctrines  enter  into 
all  our  principles  of  education ;  it  is  the  final  judge  in 
all  questions  of  faith  and  practice,  and  to  whose  deci- 
sions all  profess  to  bow.  In  gilded  covers  it  graces  the 
parlors  of  the  rich ;  in  plainer  form  it  cheers  the  cot- 
tage of  the  poor,  and  even  the  frail  wigwam  of  the  In- 
dian. A  family  without  a  Bible  is  almost  as  rare  as  a 
house  without  a  chimney;  and  where  such  families 
are  found,  they  are  either  foreign  papists  or  scoffing 
infidels.  And  such  is  our  national  attachment  to  the 
Bible,  that  we  would  contend  for  it  to  the  death  as  for 
the  very  palladium  of  our  liberty. 


LKTTEK     INTRODUOTORY.  17 

Rome  against  the  Bible.  The  Council  of  Trent. 

But  the  tendency  of  Romanism  is  to  produce  a  dis- 
regard for  the  Bible.  It  teaches  that  the  Scriptures 
are  neither  a  consistent  nor  authoritative  rule  of  faith 
— that  they  have  no  authority  save  from  the  Church 
— that  without  tradition  they  are  an  imperfect  rule — 
that  they  mu.st  be  only  received  as  interpreted  by  the 
unanimous  consent  of  the  fathers,  and  by  an  infallible 
head.  By  this  scheme  the  Scriptures  are  comparative- 
ly worthless,  save  to  prop  up  the  Church;  and,  even 
with  all  these  restrictions,  by  the  laws  of  the  Council 
of  Trent,  none  can  read  the  Bible  without  a  license 
from  his  bishop  or  inquisitor,  which  license  must  be 
based  on  a  certificate  from  his  confessor  that  the  read- 
ing will  not  injure  him  !  The  same  council  ordained 
that  booksellers  selling  Bibles  to  persons  without  such 
a  license  should  forfeit  the  value  of  the  books,  and  be 
otherwise  punished  at  the  discretion  of  the  bishop.  And 
then  a  bull  of  Pius  IV.  pronounces  all  violating  these 
rules  as  guilty  of  mortal  sin — a  sin  which  can  not  be 
forgiven  in  this  world  nor  in  the  world  to  come ! 

And  the  practice  of  the  Church  of  Rome  is  in  ac- 
cordance with  those  ])rinciples.  The  eflbrts  of  all  its 
priest.'*,  from  the  Pope  down,  arc  to  prevent  the  circula- 
tion of  the  Bible,  wholly  where  they  can,  and,  whore 
they  can  not,  to  resist  it  by  every  cflbrt.  The  Vatican 
has  denounced  the  Bible  Society  as  "  a  device  of  Sa- 
tan ;"  the  circulation  of  the  Bible  in  Ireland  as  "  sow- 
ing tares  among  wheat,"  as  '*  j)oisoning  the  children 
with  the  fatal  poison  of  depraved  doctrine ;"  and  the 
Protestant  Bible  as  *'  the  doctrine  of  devils."'  Since 
isin,  fdiir  prtpes,  infliidinL'  tlic  present  one,  Pii)  N'(H1o, 


18  LETTER     INTRODUCTORY. 

The  priests.  llow  they  oppose.  Not  the  men  for  us. 

have  declared  that  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the  vul- 
gar tongue  undermines  the  very  foundations  of  religion  I 

Such  is  Romanism  as  to  the  Bible.  Nor  are  its 
priests  backward  in  our  country  to  manifest  their  sen- 
timents. They  would  banish  it  from  our  schools  ;  they 
would  prevent  its  circulation  ;  they  have  made  bonfires 
of  volumes  of  the  word  of  God  I  Had  they  their  way, 
the  Bible  would  be  as  scarce  a  book  in  the  United 
States  as  it  is  in  Spain,  Portugal,  Naples  or  Italy.  In 
Rome  the  Bible  is  as  little  known  by  the  masses  of  the 
people  as  it  is  by  the  masses  of  the  Hindoos  in  Calcut- 
ta. The  truth  is,  the  Bible  and  Romanism  can  not 
live  together ;  and  hence  the  war  of  the  priest  upon 
the  Bible  is  a  war  to  the  knife  ! 

But  we  have  happily  learned  in  these  United  States 
that  the  Bible  is  as  necessary  to  the  state  to  teach  the 
citizens  patriotism  and  morals,  as  it  is  to  the  Church 
to  teach  its  members  the  doctrines  and  the  practices-  of 
piety  toward  God  and  man.  And  who  are  these  im- 
ported gentry  from  the  most  deeply  degraded  countries 
of  Europe,  who  would  teach  us  that  to  read  the  Bible 
without  their  license  is  a  mortal  sin — that  the  Protest- 
ant Bible  is  "  the  doctrine  of  devils" — that  it  must  be 
bani.shed  from  our  schools,  and  withdrawn  from  the 
people  ?  They  arc  not  the  men  for  our  country,  nor  is 
their  religion  the  religion  for  America.  The  great  prin- 
ciples of  the  Bible  underlie  all  our  institutions ;  and  as 
well  might  these  missionaries  of  darkness  seek  to  up- 
heave our  mountains,  or  change  the  course  of  our 
mighty  rivers,  or  (luell  the  ceaseless  sounding  of  the 
sea,  as  to  induce  our  people  to  give  up  the  Bible.     And 


LETTER     I  \  T  R  O  U  U  C  T  O  U  V.  19 

Iiiiperliucnce.  Wrong  views  of  religion. 

what  arrant  impertinence,  leaving  out  of  the  question 
its  wickedness,  to  seek  to  induce  us  to  give  up  the  hght 
of  Ufe,  that,  amid  the  darkness  that  would  ensue,  they 
might  bind  us  in  their  fetters,  and  then  exultingly  lay 
us  at  the  feet  of  the  Pope  I 

II.  Romanism  imparts  wrong  views  of  personal  re- 
ligion. The  Bible  teaches  our  depravity,  and  points 
out  its  remedy.  AVe  are  all  guilty  and  exposed  to  pun- 
ishment ;  and  to  save  us  from  the  death  to  which  our 
sins  assign  us,  God  gave  his  Son  to  die  for  us,  that  all 
believing  in  him  might  have  life.  The  religion  of  tho 
Grospel,  subjectively,  consists  in  the  hearty  belief  of  all 
it  teaches  concerning  Christ.  This  belief  constitutes 
the  believer,  and  he  that  bclicveth  shall  be  saved.  The 
state  of  tile  heart  is  the  great  matter  in  personal  relig- 
ion. Faith,  by  changing  the  heart,  changes  the  life ; 
it  works  by  love ;  and  ho  that  dwelleth  in  love  dwell- 
cth  in  God,  and  God  in  him.  The  image  of  Christ  en- 
.stamped  upon  the  heart  is  the  seal  which  authenticates 
us  as  the  children  of  God,  by  whatever  name  we  are 
(!allcd,  or  to  whatever  Church  wc  belong.  This  is  our 
glorious  Protestantism ! 

But,  according  to  the  dogmas  of  Romanism,  all  gifts 
and  graces  are  nothing,  luile.^s  found  in  its  communion. 
Its  teachings,  .sacraments,  and  ordinances  alone  have 
.saving  efficacy.  Its  baptism  regenerates — its  confinii- 
atinn  sanctifies — its  penance  absolves — its  cuchari.st 
communicates  the  actual  body  and  blood  of  (-hrisl, 
and  its  extrenin  unction  prepares  for  (biath  I  and  fiiitli, 
with  them,  is  to  befievo  all  this  I  "WHifU  we  add  in 
these  the  satisfaetion  wliieli    siiircrin!/  makes  for  sin. 


20  1. 1-;  T  T  i;  R    1  .\  'I"  li  ( 1 1)  u  i:  r  d  li  \. 

No  salvation  to  heretics.  Creed  of  Pius  IV. 


and  the  power  of  the  priest  to  absolve  and  commute, 
we  need  not  be  surprised  at  the  moral  state  of  those 
countries  where  these  views  of  religion  obtain  among 
the  masses.  And  unless  we  believe  all  this,  and  the 
nonsensical  rubbish  of  ten  centuries  besides,  however 
holy,  we  can  not  be  saved. 

Need  Ave  pause  a  moment  to  prove  that  it  is  a  Rom- 
ish doctrine  that  none  can  be  saved  out  of  its  com- 
munion ?  "What  priest  denies  it,  or  what  papist,  save 
those  almost  protestantized  by  our  free  institutions  ? 
The  Romish  Church  recognizes  but  one  shepherd,  the 
Pope ;  and  but  one  fold,  itself;  and  those  who  are  not 
the  sheep  of  the  Pope  can  not  be  the  sheep  of  Christ. 
The  creed  of  Pius  IV.,  to  which  every  priest  assents  in 
ordination,  has  this  declaration  appended  :  "  I  do  sin- 
cerely hold  this  true  catholic  doctrine,  w^ithout  which 
no  one  can  be  saved."  The  decree  of  Boniface  VIII. 
says,  "  We  declare,  assert,  define,  and  pronounce,  that 
it  is  necessary  for  salvation  for  every  human  being  to 
be  subject  to  the  Pope  of  Rome."  And  the  famous 
bull  "  In  Ca?na  Domini,"  containing  the  following  fear- 
ful excommunication,  is  read  yearly  in  St.  Peter's  on 
Maunday  Thursday :  "  We  excommunicate  and  anath- 
ematize, in  the  name  of  God  Almighty,  ...  all 
Hussites,  Wicklilfites,  Lutherans,  Calvinists,  Hugue- 
nots, Anabaptists,  Trinitarians,  and  all  other  heretics, 
by  whatever  name  called,  and  of  whatever  other  sect 
they  may  be."  When  this  fearful,  but  now  quite 
harmless,  bull  is  read,  a  lighted  candle  is  cast  on  the 
ground  and  extingui.shed,  to  signify  that  eternal  dark- 
ness is  the  portion  of  all  the  sects  specified  !     And  the 


LETTER     INTRODUCTORY.  21 

Fearful  cannon.  True  to  her  principles. 


ceremony  is  concluded  "by  firing  a  cannon  from  the 
castle  of  Saint  Angelo,  which,  it  is  supposed,  makes  all 
the  heretics  m  the  world,  to  tremble  ! 

And  in  commenting  on  Genesis,  vii.,  23,  the  Douay 
Bible  of  1635  says,  "  Grod.  had  but  one  ark,  and  one 
Noah  for  its  chief  governor,  and  all  without  the  ark 
died,  to  signify  that  all  who  die  without  the  See  Apos- 
toUc  are  eternally  damned.'' 

Such  are  the  blasphemous  tenets  of  Romanism,  and 
which  can  not  be  changed,  because  Rome  is  infallible. 
Faith  in  Christ,  a  renewed  nature,  abounding  spirit- 
ual fruits,  are  nothing;  but  faith  in  the  Pope,  and 
in  its  absurd  tenets,  are  every  thing.  If  you  believe 
in  the  Pope,  and  submit  to  his  pompous  bishops  and 
.sneaking  priests,  whatever  else  you  may  be,  you  are 
saved ;  otherwise,  if  meek  as  Moses,  or  holy  as  John, 
you  are  lost !  And  has  not  Rome  been  true  to  these 
principles  ?  AVhen  has  she  ever  swerved  from  them  ? 
What  sect  has  she  not  cursed  ?  What  noble  name  has 
she  not  sought  to  blast  ?  What  science  or  study,  fitted 
to  enlarge  and  liberalize  ilio  mind,  has  she  not  cursed  ? 
Those  men  who  have  been  the  lights  of  their  age — 
Bacon,  Luther,  Calvin,  Cranmcr,  Knox,  Milton,  New- 
ton, Howard,  Wesley — she  has  shut  out  from  heaven, 
and  consignefl  1o  eternal  torments;  while  she  has 
placed  upon  her  calendar  as  saints  men  of  the  most 
desperate  and  debased  character,  simply  because  their 
wealth,  their  fiery  zeal,  their  swords  ami  daggers,  were 
at  her  service  !  1  )id  she  not  take  th*}  Ijutehcr  TTaynau 
to  b<T  bosom,  whii*'-  she  poured  fdl  llir  vials  of  her 
vrjilb  fill  Kdssiilb?      Does  she  not  !it  Ibis  liniir  irc:\i 


22  M'.rri.  H      I  N  TR(.)  DUCTOK  V. 


Preferences  01' Rome.  Political  tendencies.  Claims. 


the  cruel  King  of  Naples,  and  the  no  less  cruel  Duke 
of  Tuscany,  as  the  holiest  sons  of  the  Church,  while 
the  wailings  of  patriots  rise  from  all  their  dungeons — 
while  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  to  civil  and  religious 
liberty  stains  all  their  raiment  ? 

If  these  things  are  so,  can  Romanism  Le  the  religion 
for  America  ? 

III.  The  political  tendencies  of  Romanism  are  all 
adverse  to  our  institutions.  Indeed,  if  a  religious  sys- 
tem at  all,  it  has  a  political  basis,  and  all  its  great  de- 
velopments have  been  of  a  political  character.  The 
Pope,  as  the  vicegerent  of  God,  is  the  head  of  the 
Church,  and  the  Church  is  to  the  state  as  the  soul  is  to 
the  body ;  and  as  the  soul  governs  the  body,  so  should 
the  Church  the  state  I  Here  are  the  few  links  which 
compose  that  chain  which  has  bound  the  Church  and 
the  nations  for  ages  in  servile  obedience  to  the  triple 
crown ;  and  although  more  carefully  and  stealthily  put 
forth  —  although  more  frequently  left  to  be  inferred 
than  directly  taught,  yet  the  claims  to  supremacy  in 
the  state  for  the  Pope  are  as  clearly  asserted  by  Roman- 
ism as  are  those  for  his  supremacy  in  the  Church. 

What  we  here  assert  has  been  strongly  denied,  and 
denounced  on  the  floor  of  Congress  by  a  neophyte  pa- 
pist, a  representative  from  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 
Deceived  by  the  miserable  priests,  to  whom,  it  would 
seem,  he  has  given  up  his  mind  and  heart,  and  know- 
ing nothing  upon  the  subject  himself,  he  was  led,  by 
dependence  upon  Jesuit  veracity,  to  make  the  speech 
which  he  did,  and  which  has  drawn  after  it  such  a 
mass  of  refutation.    We  broadly  assert,  what  Mr.  Chan- 


LETTER     I  N  T  R  O  D  U  C  T  O  K  \  .  23 

Temporal  sovereignly.  Decrees.  Bull  of  Paul  1 V. 


dler,  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  broadly  denied,  that  tem- 
poral sovereignty  is  claimed  by  the  Pope ;  and  wo  as- 
sert, in  addition,  that  all  his  priests  are  sworn  to  main- 
tain it.  The  issue  is  thus  fairly  made,  and  the  ques- 
tion at  issue  is  to  be  deeided  by  documentary  testis 
inony.     Now  to  the  testimony. 

''  We  are  instructed  by  Go.spel  expressions  that  there 
are  two  swords,  the  spiritual  and  the  temporal.  He 
who  denies  that  the  temporal  sword  was  in  the  power 
of  Peter,  attends  badly  to  the  word  of  the  Lord ;  the 
spiritual  and  the  material  sword  are  in  the  power  of 
the  Church ;  but  the  one  is  to  be  exercised  for  the 
Church,  the  other  by  the  Church.  The  one  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  priest,  the  other  in  the  hands  of  kings  and 
armies,  but  at  the  nod  and  sufferance  of  the  priest.  It 
is  necessary,  however,  the  sword  should  be  under  the  • 
sword,  and  the  temporal  authority  be  subject  to  the 
.spiritual  power."  (Decree  of  Boniface  VIII.,  Juris  Ca- 
nonica,  Antwerp  edition.) 

The  same  decree  states,  "  For  the  truth  itself  boars 
witness  that  the  spiritual  })owcr  hath  the  ])rovince  of 
regulating  the  earthly  power.  If  the  earthly  power  go 
astray,  it  shall  bo  judged  by  the  spiritual  power.  'J'his 
power,  although  granted  to  a  man  and  exercised  by  a 
man,  i.s  not  human,  l)ut  rather  divine,  given  by  the 
mouth  of  rjnd  to  Pclcr  himsGlf,  and  to  all  his  suc- 
cessors." 

T'aul  IV.,  in  his  bull  against  heretics  and  .schismat- 
ics, thus  assorts  his  power  :  ''  Tho  ro])o  of  Homo  hero 
on  earth  is  the  vicar  ofi  I  fid  miuI  nur  Lord  .Icsih  Christ 
— hath  obtainod  tin-,   |)lrnitu(li'  y^{  power  ()V(>r   nations 


24  L  }•;  T 'I'  i;  n    i  n  t  it  o  u  u  c  i'  o  ii  v. 

Queen  Elizabeth.  Exhortation  to  Leo  X. 

and  kingdoms,  and  is  jndgc  of  all  men,  and  is  to  tc 
judged  of  no  man  in  the  world." 

Hear  Pius  Y.,  in  his  bull  against  Queen  Elizabeth  : 

"He  who  reigneth  on  high hath  committed  the 

one  holy  Catholic  Church,  out  of  which  there  is  no  sal- 
vation, to  one  alone  upon  earth,  that  is,  to  Peter,  the 
prince  of  the  apostles,  and  to  the  Roman  pontifT,  the 
successor  of  Peter,  to  be  governed  with  a  plenitude  of 
power.  This  one  he  hath  constituted  prince  ovei'  all 
nations,  that  he  may  pluck  up,  overthrow,  disperse, 
destroy,  plant,  and  rear."  And  that  there  might  be  no 
mistake  as  to  the  power  claimed,  the  Italian  priest 
thus  thunders  against  the  English  queen:  "We  de- 
prive the  queen  of  her  pretended  right  to  kingdom,  and 
of  all  dominion,  dignity,  and  privilege  whatsoever ;  and 
absolve  all  the  nobles,  subjects,  and  people  of  the  king- 
dom, and  whoever  else  have  sworn  to  her,  from  their 
oath,  and  all  duty  whatsoever  in  regard  to  dominion, 
fidelitv,  and  obedience." 

Here  is  the  exhortation  of  the  Lateran  Council  to 
Leo  X. :  "  Snatch  up  the  two-edged  sword  of  divine 
power  given  to  thee,  and  enjoin,  command,  and  charge 
that  a  universal  peace  and  alliance  be  made  among 
Chri-stians  ;  and  to  that  bind  kings  in  the  fetters  of  the 
great  King,  and  firmly  fasten  nobles  with  the  iron  man- 
acles of  censures ;  for  to  thee  is  given  all  power  in 
heaven  and  in  earth." 

Here,  then,  is  the  claim  to  temporal  power  asserted 
by  popes  and  councils.  Other  authorities  to  the  same 
point  might  be  given,  were  it  necessary.  Those  desir- 
ous of  consulting  them  will  find  them  in  "  Barrow's 


LETTER     INTRODUCTORY.  25 

Teachings  of  doctors.  Allen  and  Parsons,  Jesuits. 

Treatise  on  the  Pope's  Supremacy,"  and  in  other  stand- 
ard works  on  the  subject. 

Equally  clear  are  the  teachings  of  Romish  doctors, 
theologians,  and  annalists  on  the  same  subject.  They 
maintain  that  all  the  power  of  Christ,  who  was  King 
of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  and  to  whom  all  power  in 
heaven  and  earth  belonged,  was  delegated  to  the  Pope, 
his  vicegerent.  One  says,  "  The  power  of  the  Pope  is 
infinite,  because  great  is  the  Lord,  and  great  is  his 
power,  and  of  his  greatness  there  is  no  end  I"  "  The 
Pope,"  says  Thomas  Aquinas,  "  is  the  top  of  both  pow- 
ers ;  so  that,  when  any  one  is  excommunicated  for 
apostasy,  his  subjects  are,  ipso  facto,  freed  from  his 
dominion,  and  from  their  oath  of  allegiance."*  And 
Baronius  says,  "  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  it  but  that 
the  civil  principality  is  subject  to  the  sacerdotal." 

Foremost  in  the  assertion  and  maintenance  of  tiic 
temporal  power  of  the  Pope  have  been  the  Jesuits. 
During  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  AVilliam  Allen,  a  lead- 
ing Jesuit,  taught  that  "  it  was  the  duty  of  a  nation 
to  refuse  allegiance  to  a  sovereign  who  had  fallen  oil 
from  the  Catholic  Church  ;"t  and  Parsons,  another  dis- 
ciple of  Loyola,  taught  that  "  it  is  a  fundamental  con- 
dition of  a  sovereign's  whole  authority  that  ho  should 
cherish  ;ui'l  protect  the  Roman  Catholic  faitli.  It 
would  be  blindness  to  regard  him  as  capable  of  reign- 
ing should  ho  fail  to  fulfill  that  condition ;  much  rath- 
er would  his  subjects  bo  bound,  in  such  a  case,  \o  ex- 
pel him  from  the  throne." 

Nor  were  these  claims  asserttMl  by  (ho  pn|)e.s,  nor 

•  Quoted  hy  Dr  M'Cree.  p    18,  19.  t  Ranko'n  Poppo,  p   r,2 

B 


26  LETTER     INTRODUCTORY. 

Rule  or  popes.  Depositions.  King  John. 

defended  by  learned  doctors,  as  mere  theories.  For 
centuries  together  the  popes  of  Rome  reigned  over  Eu- 
rope as  its  spiritual  and  temporal  lords.  They  distrib- 
uted titles,  revenues,  territories,  as  if  all  belonged  to 
them.  They  were  umpires  in  all  disputes,  and  final 
judges  in  all  quarrels.  They  made  emperors,  gave 
crowns  to  their  favorites,  dethroned  their  enemies,  re- 
duced nations  to  vassalage,  made  wars,  raised  crusades. 
History  furnishes  us  with  a  list  of  sixty-four  emperors 
and  kings  deposed  by  the  popes,  among  whom  that 
of  King  John  of  England  stands  conspicuous.  Ac- 
knowledging the  Pope's  spiritual  power,  but  denying 
his  temporal,  the  enraged  Innocent  III.  thundered  forth 
his  excommunication,  and  laid  his  kingdom  under  in- 
terdict. The  priests  shut  up  the  churches,  muffled  the 
bells,  and  in  every  possible  way  worked  upon  the  su- 
perstitious fears  of  an  ignorant  people.  The  land 
seemed  clothed  in  sackcloth.  Deserted  on  every  hand, 
John  yielded  an  ignominious  submission.  He  gave 
up  his  crown  and  sceptre,  the  emblems  of  royalty,  into 
the  hands  of  the  Pope'ii  nuncio,  who,  after  keeping 
them  for  some  days,  restored  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Pope.  John  submissively  received  them,  and  present- 
ed the  nuncio  with  a  large  sum  of  money,  which  the 
haughty  Pandulf  received  as  a  pledge  of  the  king's  de- 
pendence, and  then  trampled  it  under  his  feet  !* 

Now,  we  ask,  has  this  claim  for  the  exercise  of 
temporal  power  been  ever  withdrawn?  Never.  An 
eflbrt  is  being  made  every  where  in  England  and 
America  to  show  that  Rome  seeks  no  temporal  or  .sec- 

*  Smollett's  History  of  England. 


LETTER     INTRODUCTORY.  27 


Spiritual  weapons.  BeUarniine's  figure. 

ular  authority  any  where  but  through  her  spiritual ! 
And  if,  on  the  supposition  that  all  history  is  false,  we 
admit  the  principle,  how  does  it  mend  the  matter  ? 
The  Pope  is  the  vicar  of  Christ,  and  exercises  all  the 
authority  of  Christ.  Hence  all  his  authority  is  spirit- 
ual authority.  And  what  are  his  spiritual  weapons  ? 
They  are  no  less  than  omnipotence,  infallibility,  abso- 
lution, everlasting  salvation  or  damnation  —  weapons 
stolen  from  the  God  of  heaven,  and  wielded  with  aw- 
ful influence  over  the  fears  of  the  ignorant  and  super- 
stitious, who  compo.se  the  great  mass  of  the  papal  na- 
tions I  And  what  is  worth  the  allegiance  of  a  man  to 
his  government  who  owes  his  spiritual  allegiance  to 
his  priests?  He  who  rules  the  spirit  rules  the  man. 
And  hence  Bcllarmine  compares  the  secular  power  to 
the  body,  and  the  spiritual  to  the  soul  of  man,  and 
ascribes  to  the  Church  the  same  power  over  the  state 
which  the  soul  exercises  over  the  body  I*  And,  as  the 
soul  often  wills  the  destruction  of  the  body  to  secure 
its  own  great  .spiritual  interests,  so  may  the  Church, 
for  the  same  end,  will  the  destruction  of  the  state ! 
Indeed,  Hildcbrand,  in  his  most  extravagant  claims  to 
govern  the  world,  always  stood  upon  liis  spiritual  pre- 
rogatives as  the  vicar  of  Jesus  Christ. 

And  not  only  have  not  these  claims  been  withdrawn, 
but  there  is  an  oath  upon  the  soul  of  every  Romish 
bishop  and  priest  upon  earth  to  maintain  them  !  Turn 
to  that  "  bishoj)'s  oath,"  who.sc  publication  lias  caused 
such  a  .'^baking  among  tlio  mitred  heads  of  England 
and  America  !  Read  and  ponder  these  clauses  : 
•  Ranke'B  Popee,  p.  172. 


28  LETTER     INTRODUCTORY. 

Bisbop'a  oatb.  Royalties  of  St.  Peter. 

"  I  will  help  them  to  defend  the  Roman  papacy,  and 
the  royalties  of  Saint  Peter,  saving  my  order,  against 
all  men." 

"  The  rights,  honors,  privileges,  and  authority  of  the 
holy  Roman  Catholic  Church,  of  our  lord  the  Pope,  and 
foresaid  successors,  I  will  endeavor  to  preserve,  defend, 
increase,  and  advance." 

Now  the  question  arises.  What  are  the  royalties  of 
Saint  Peter,  that  every  bishop  is  thus  sworn  to  defend 
against  all  men  ?     Here  are  a  few  of  these  royalties : 

"  To  have  a  plenitude  of  power,  by  which  he  can 
infringe  any  law,  and  act  according  to  his  sovereign 
will. 

"  To  be  so  much  superior  to  all  other  men,  that  none 
shall  presume  to  tax  his  faults  or  to  judge  of  his  judg- 
ment. 

"  To  be  so  exalted  that  it  is  idolatry  to  disobey  his 
commands. 

"  To  possess  the  spiritual  and  the  temporal  sword ; 
to  be  superior  to  all  sovereigns  on  earth — nay,  so  much 
.superior,  that  it  is  held  of  necessity  to  salvation  for  ev- 
ery human  creature  to  be  subject  to  the  Roman  pontifl'. 

"  To  have  a  right  to  dethrone  heretical  princes,  ab- 
solve their  subjects  from  their  allegiance,  and  empow- 
er Roman  Catholics  to  exterminate  them,  and  seize 
upon  their  lands." 

And  this  list  of  royalties  may  be  greatly  extended 
from  those  enumerated  by  Barrow  on  the  Pope's  Su- 
premacy, and  from  the  great  speech  of  Dr.  Cooke,  of 
Belfast,  in  Exeter  Hall.  The  above,  however,  are  suf- 
ficient for  our  present  purpose. 


LETTER     INTRODUCTORY.  29 

Affirmation.  Bishops'  dilemma.  A  question. 

We  affirm,  then,  in  the  face  of  our  country  and  of 
the  world,  that  the  popes  of  Rome  have  claimed  tem- 
poral supremacy — that  the  claim  has  never  been  with- 
drawn— that  it  is  now  claimed — that  it  is  necessarily 
involved  in  their  claim  to  spiritual  supremacy,  and 
that  these  claims,  tied  up  in  the  same  package  with 
the  other  "  royalties  of  Saint  Peto',^'  every  Romish 
bishop  upon  earth  is  sworn  to  ''  defend,  increase,  and 
advance."  And  this  they  are  doing  in  all  the  earth, 
by  all  means — openly  where  they  dare  ;  secretly,  and 
by  all  the  deceivable  of  unrighteousness,  where  they 
must.  That  oath  is  upon  the  soul  of  Bishop  Hughes, 
and,  if  true  to  his  adopted  country,  he  is  a  perjured 
ecclesiastic  ;  or,  if  true  to  the  Pope,  from  whom  he  has 
received  the  titles  and  feathers  with  which  he  has 
made  such  a  fuss,  and  which  he  displays  with  as  much 
apparent  delight  as  does  a  baby  its  bawbles,  then  he  is 
a  sworn  spy  upon  our  rulers,  and  a  traitor  to  our  insti- 
tutions. Sworn  to  defend,  increase,  and  advance  the 
royalties  of  Saint  Peter,  he  waits  only  the  fitting  op- 
portunity to  cage  our  eagle,  and  to  send  him  to  the 
Vatican  as  a  rare  and  dangerous  bird — to  act  as  anoth- 
er Pandulph  in  rendering  our  great  country  tributary 
to  hi.s  dotard  master  who  reigns  on  tlic  Tiber. 

If  these  things  arc  so,  can  Romanism  be  the  religion 
for  America  ?  Could  the  question  bo  put  to  the  coun- 
try, millions  of  voices  would  cry  No  ;  and,  in  tin;  lan- 
guage of  King  John  to  I^.indidph,  commanding  him  to 
submit  to  the  Pope,  they  would  say, 

"Thou  cinHt  not,  cardinal,  dcviKP  a  iiaim' 
So  slight,  nnworthy,  and  ridiculous, 


30  LETTER     INTRODUCTORY. 

Law  of  caste.  Claims  How  carried  out. 

To  charge  me  to  an  answer,  as  the  Pope. 
Tell  him  this  talc,  and  from  tlic  mouth  of  England 
Add  thus  much  more,  that  no  Italian  priest 
Shall  tithe  or  toll  in  our  dominions."' 


IV.  Uomanism  fosters  a  law  of  caste  unfriendly  to 
all  the  great  interests  of  society. 

We  are  made  of  one  blood,  and  are  all  branches  of 
the  same  parent  stock.  God  is  alike  the  father  of  all 
men,  and  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  The  Bible  is  de- 
signed alike  for  all.  It  is  in  the  moral  world  as  the 
sun  in  the  physical,  for  the  illumination  of  all.  The 
design  of  the  religion  of  the  Gospel  is  to  draw  men  in 
love  to  God,  and  to  bind  them  in  love  to  one  another 
— to  subdue  the  depravity  of  the  heart — ^to  extirpate 
its  selfishness  and  passions — to  infuse  a  new  and  spir- 
itual life  into  the  soul — so  to  recast  and  to  renew  the 
race  as  to  induce  all  men  to  regard  each  other  as 
brethren. 

How  different  from  all  this  is  the  object  and  tenden- 
cy of  Romanism  !  The  Pope  puts  forth  his  monstrous 
claims  to  supremacy  on  the  ground  of  his  being  the 
vicegerent  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  brands  and  condemns 
as  rebels  against  God  all  who  deny  them  !  His  bish- 
ops and  priests  are  scattered  over  the  earth  to  assert 
these  claims  in  his  name,  and  to  brand  and  condemn 
as  heretics  all  who  refuse  to  submit  to  them — to  treat 
them  as  heathen  and  publicans.  They  forbid  their 
people  to  read  our  Bibles — to  send  their  children  to  our 
public  schools — to  go  to  our  churches — to  intermarry 
with  us — to  pray  with  us ;  and  when  they  die,  they 
forbid  them  to  be  buried  in  our  grave-yards !     The 


LETTER     INTRODUCTORY.  31 

Our  servants  Ilinduoisni  01)edience  to  the  law. 

very  servants  in  our  families  incur  guilt  if  they  bow  at 
our  family  altars — if  they  eat  meat  at  our  tables  at 
certain  times  and  on  certain  days — guilt  which  can 
only  be  removed  by  penance.  What  is  all  this  but  the 
old  ceremonial  law  of  Judaism  ?  Yes,  worse  than  this, 
the  law  of  caste  of  the  Hindoos  in  papal  dress.  This 
law  of  caste  we  feel  in  our  families — we  meet  it  at 
the  polls — in  social  and  political  life.  Those  who  obey 
the  priest  are  pure,  however  otherwise  defiled ;  and 
those  who  do  not  are  defiled,  however  otherwise  pure. 
Here  is  Hindooism  in  the  midst  of  us,  tricked  off  by 
juggling  priests  as  an  angel  of  light ! 

The  great  characteristic  of  this  law  of  caste  is  obe- 
dience to  the  See  of  Rome.  This  is  the  paramount 
law  of  the  papist,  as  in  separation  from  the  Pope  there 
is,  ordinarily,  no  salvation  ;  and  to  secure  it,  the  entire 
jiriesthood,  of  all  tiers  and  grades,  put  forth  their  sleep- 
less efforts.  Our  Bible  says  not  a  word  for  the  Pope, 
and  it  must  not  be  read !  Our  schools  teach  nothing 
about  the  holy  father,  nor  holy  water,  and  they  must 
not  be  entered !  Onr  prayers  omit  all  notice  of  holy 
Mary,  ever  virgin — of  ^aint  Peter  and  Saint  Paul,  and, 
indeed,  of  all  the  saints  in  the  calendar,  as  intercessors, 
and  arc  oflored  through  the  one  Mediator,  and  they  must 
not  be  heard !  r)ur  churches  resound  with  the  great 
truth  that  "  he  that  bclieveth  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
shall  be  saved,"  if  there  were  not  a  pope  or  priest  on 
the  globe,  and  they  must  be  shunned.  They  are  syn- 
aKOfnicM  of  Satan.  The  Protestant  is  white  witlx  the 
leprosy  of  the  mortal  sin  of  .schism  ;  and  as  his  soid  is 
sf^nt  to  hf'll,  his  vrry  linrifs  must  not  lie  in  cnnsrrrafed 


32  1,F,  TTl'R     INTRODUCTORY. 

The  heart  with  Rome.  O'C'onnell.  Only  injuriouH 

ground.  Allegiance  to  the  Pope  is  allegiance  to  God, 
so  that  the  Pope  is  the  true  sovereign  and  ruler  of  the 
papist,  in  whatever  country  or  under  whatever  gov- 
ernment he  may  reside.  The  people  otey  the  priest, 
the  priest  the  bishop,  the  bishop  the  archbishop,  the 
archbishop  the  Pope  ;  and  bishops  and  archbishops, 
when  invested  with  their  insignia  of  office,  thus  prom- 
ise and  swear  :  '"I  will,  by  myself  in  person,  visit  the 
threshold  of  the  apostles  every  three  years,  and  give 
an  account  to  our  lord  of  all  my  pastoral  office,  and 
of  all  thing's  in  any  ivise  belong-ing-  to  the  state  of 
my  Church,  to  the  discipline  of  my  clergy  and  peo- 
ple, ....  ayid  I  will,  in  like  manner,  hum- 
bly receive  and  diligently  execute  the  apostolic  com- 
mands ;"  so  that  wherever  may  be  the  body  of  the 
true  papist,  his  heart  is  with  Rome.  Of  this  we  have 
a  recent  and  powerful  illustration  in  Daniel  O'Connell, 
whose  brilliant  powers  might  have  made  him  a  bless- 
ing to  his  country,  had  they  been  connected  with  mor- 
al or  religious  principles,  who,  in  dying,  ordered  that 
his  heart  should  be  taken  from  his  body,  and  sent  em- 
balmed to  Rome,  while  nothing  was  given  to  poor  Ire- 
land but  his  corruptible,  heartless  carcass  ! 

And  can  all  this  be  otherwise  than  injurious  to  all 
our  interests,  moral,  social,  and  civil?  Does  it  not 
tend  to  form  a  government  within  a  government,  and 
thus  to  divide  the  allegiance  of  the  people  ?  Does  it 
not  tend  to  bring  the  priest,  and  the  magistrate,  and 
the  legislator  into  conflict,  when  the  interests  of  the 
Pope  and  the  state  cla.sh  ?  The  priests  are  the  spies 
and  constables  of  the  Pope,  and  they  will  not,  if  they 


LETTER     INTRODUCTORY.  33 

Political  animosities.  The  great  question. 

can,  permit  his  interests  to  suffer.  Does  it  not  tend  to 
jwlitical  animosities,  the  papist  making  all  other  in- 
terests bow  to  those  of  liis  master  ?  We  point,  for  an 
answer  to  these  questions,  to  all  the  cities  and  towns 
in  the  country  —  to  all  the  Legislatures  in  the  land 
where  the  Romish  element  has  strength  enough  to 
show  itself  It  engenders  social  divisions,  and  sows 
discord  even  in  the  family  circle,  whose  secrets  the 
priest  wrings  out  of  his  female  confessor.  It  leads  to 
the  education  of  our  youth  intd  entirely  distinct  civil 
and  religious  principles ;  and,  instead  of  going  out 
upon  the  stage  of  life  feeling  that,  as  Christians,  they 
have  but  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  and  as  cit- 
izens but  one  country,  one  government,  one  destiny, 
they  go  out,  the  Protestant  to  contend  against,  and 
the  papist  to  contend  for,  a  spiritual  despotism  in  the 
Church — the  Protestant  to  contend  against  all  inter- 
ference of  the  Pope,  through  his  priests,  in  the  state, 
and  the  papist  to  contend  for  it.  Thus  the  tendency 
of  Romanism  is  to  form  a  law  of  caste,  but  less  strin- 
gent than  that  of  the  Hindoos,  because  of  our  free  in- 
stitutions, and  which,  in  all  its  bearings,  is  only  un- 
friendly to  all  the  great  interests  of  society. 

And  wc  ask  again.  Can  Romanism  be  the  religion 
for  America?  As  a  religious  system,  it  is  an  old  fos- 
sil of  the  Dark  Ages,  formed  to  awe  a  rndc  and  .super- 
stitious people,  and  in  all  its  great  peculiarities  in  di- 
rect antagonism  with  the  religion  of  the  Bible,  which 
is  the  religion  of  these  United  States.  As  a  moral  sys- 
tem, especially  as  administered  by  the  Jesuits,  it  is 
demoralizing  to  the  last  degree  ;  as  a  political  .system, 

B2 


34  L  E  T  T  E  K     I  N  T  U  O  D  U  C  T  O  R  V. 

Tue  great  cry.  Present  Blute  of  the  coiilroverKy. 

its  aim  and  end  is  to  make  the  Pope  in  the  state,  what 
he  is  in  the  Church,  supreme.  These  things  our  coun- 
try is  beginning  to  see  and  to  feel ;  and  from  the  Saint 
Lawrence  to  the  Rio  Grande,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific,  there  is  one  deep,  earnest  cry,  Romanism 
is  not  the  Religion  for  America. 

The  controversy  with  this  politico-spiritual  power 
has  hitherto  been  too  much  confined  to  its  dogmatic 
side,  and  to  ministers  and  the  pulpit.  Its  doctrines  have 
been  discussed  and  confuted,  until,  if  Scripture,  learn- 
ing, reason,  could  do  any  thing,  not  a  shred  of  them  is 
left.  But  what  did  the  priests  care  about  that,  as  their 
people  never  read  I  Presuming  on  the  apathy  of  the 
country  as  to  forms  of  faith,  and  on  the  strength  of  old 
party  ties,  which  were  supposed  to  be  made  of  wrought 
iron,  and  on  the  corruption  of  ])oliticians  and  place- 
seekers,  who,  it  was  thought,  would  yield  any  thing  to 
secure  their  election,  and  on  their  power  to  sway  the 
votes  of  their  own  followers,  which  induced  the  belief 
that  they  could  make  them  over  to  the  party  which 
would  yield  most  to  their  demands,  the  bishops  and 
priests  became  bold  and  imperious,  and  strongly  polit- 
ical. The  foreign  vote  ruled  the  election,  and  in  New 
York  it  was  put  up  by  Bishop  Hughes  to  the  highest 
bidder  I  Each  year  the  price  was  raised.  The  Bible 
must  be  put  out  of  our  schools.  Then  the  Romish 
schools  must  be  supported  from  the  public  funds ;  then 
foreigners  must  share  the  political  offices  ;  then  papists 
must  be  in  the  cabinet,  and  our  ministers  to  foreign 
courts ;  and  then  bishops  must  be  consulted  about 
laws  before  pas-sed  to  a  third  reading,  to  see  if  they 


LETTER     INTRODUCTORY.  35 

Party  lines  broken.  Language  of  the  country. 

would  suit  I  And  the  question  was  asked  to  what  all 
this  would  grow,  and  the  result  is,  that  party  lines 
have  given  way,  and  that,  rather  than  be  thus  teased, 
and  fretted,  and  goaded  on  from  year  to  year  by  these 
foreign  priests  to  some  new  surrender  of  great  princi- 
ples, all  parties  are  fused  into  a  gi*eat  American  party, 
determined  to  stand  by  the  Constitution  and  the  Bible. 
And  now  the  controversy  has  passed  over  from  the 
priest  and  preacher  to  the  politician.s — from  the  pulpit 
and  the  Tabernacle  to  the  legislative  halls  of  Washing- 
ton and  of  nearly  every  state  in  the  Union — from  the 
rehgious  to  the  secular  press ;  and  from  the  few  ardent 
opposers  of  the  system  into  the  hands  of  the  people ; 
and  the  language  of  the  country  to  the  priests  and  peo- 
ple of  Rome  is.  You  shall  be  protected  in  your  rights ; 
you  are  welcome  to  our  immunities ;  all  the  ways 
of  business  are  open  to  you  as  to  our  own  children ; 
we  will  clothe  you  if  naked,  feed  you  if  hungry,  take 
care  of  you  if  sick ;  we  will  educate  your  children  as 
our  own;  but  we  will  make  our  own  laws,  aj)point  our 
own  magistrates  and  rulers,  and,  without  any  interfer- 
ence from  you  or  your  master,  we  will  govern  our- 
selves, and  educate  our  children.  The  religion  which 
you  would  bring  us  wc  now  understand.  It  has  shed 
the  blfX)d  of  our  fathers ;  it  is  inimical  to  all  our  insti- 
tutions ;  rule  or  ruin  is  its  motto ;  it  has  been  the  fe- 
rocious enemy  of  the  race — It  is  not  the  rclii^ion  for 
America. 

"Thou  mayst  hold  a  Hcrpciit  l)y  llii;  tongue, 

A  caged  lion  by  llic  mortal  paw, 
A  faHtinjj  li^er  H.-ifcr  l>y  tlio  toolli, 
Tli.Tii  liPfip  in  (iiTirc  with  Home  " 


KIRWAN'S  LETTERS 


TO    THE 


RIOHT    REV.    JOHN    HUGHES, 

BISHOP  OF  NEW  YORK. 


LETTER  I. 

INTRODUCTION. 


Reasons  of  interest.  Position. 


My  dear  Sir, — Although  an  entire  stranger  to  you, 
I  have  felt  for  many  years  greatly  interested  in  your 
history  and  doings,  and  for  the  following  reasons : 

You  are  the  chief  pastor  of  a  very  important  portion 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  this  country,  and 
your  ecclesiastical  position  makes  you  emphatically  a 
public  man.  If  a  bishop  in  Mexico  or  Missouri,  like 
many  mitred  priests,  you  might  live  unknown  to  fame  ; 
but  as  the  papal  bi.shop  of  the  commercial  metropolis 
of  the  Western  World,  and  of  the  most  populous  and 
wealthy  diocese  of  your  Church  in  the  United  States, 
this  could  not  be  expected.  Position,  you  know,  has 
much  to  do  with  our  public  character.  It  sometimes 
gives,  even  to  weak  and  bad  men,  an  importance  out 
of  all  proportion  to  their  merits. 

But,  in  addition  to  your  position,  which  is  one  of 
high  influence,  you  possess  the  requisite  qualifications 


38  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     L  E  T  T  E  R  S 


Saying  something.  Manly  bearing.  Self-nrnde. 

to  fill  it.  This  is  confessed  by  your  most  ardent  op- 
ponents. By  your  genius,  tact,  and  eloquence  —  by 
your  sleepless  devotion  to  the  duties  of  your  calling, 
you  have  obtained  a  position  in  the  very  first  rank  of 
the  ecclesiastics  of  your  Church ;  and,  without  saying 
very  much,  this  is  saying  considerable. 

Besides,  at  whatever  odds,  you  have  fought  like  a 
man  with  all  your  opponents.  In  controversies,  relig- 
ious and  political,  you  have  not  shunned  the  hall  of 
debate,  nor  discussion  through  the  press.  You  have 
taken  your  positions  adroitly,  and  you  have  defended 
them  with  remarkable  skill ;  and  even  when  convinced 
of  the  utter  fallacy  of  your  positions  and  defenses,  I 
have  yet  sympathized  with  your  manly  firmness.  It 
is  in  human  nature  to  respect  the  man  that,  with  an 
earnest  soul,  contends  for  what  he  esteems  right ;  and 
I  must  confess  that,  as  to  some  things,  when  the  pub- 
lic voice  was  against  you,  your  course  met  with  my 
approbation. 

Besides,  if  public  rumor  is  worthy  of  belief,  you  have 
raised  yourself  into  your  present  position  by  the  force 
of  your  talents  and  character,  from  a  social  position 
comparatively  humble.  To  me  this  is  not  the  least  of 
the  reasons  why  I  have  felt  interested  in  your  career. 
The  men  of  our  race  have  been  what  is  commonly  call- 
ed self-made  men.  The  "  Heroes  in  History"  have 
been  nearly  all  such.  It  requires  high  attributes,  both 
of  mind  and  soul,  to  rise  above  the  disadvantages  of 
family  and  fortune,  and  to  take  precedence  of  those 
who  would  fain  believe  that  birth  and  wealth  give  a 
patent-right  to  the  high  places  of  influence.    Your  past 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  39 

Grounds  of  confidence.  Birth-place.  Irish  in  America. 

history,  unless  I  misunderstand  it,  must  have  had  a 
liberalizing  influence  upon  you.  You  must  look  at 
things  on  a  larger  and  ^vider  scale,  and  through  a 
clearer  medium,  than  if  you  had  been  cradled  in  crim- 
son and  educated  in  a  convent.  You  know  the  dis- 
tinction between  prejudice  and  principle  —  between 
what  is  entitled  to  belief  and  what  we  have  been  edu- 
cated to  beheve — between  what  is  truly  reasonable 
and  what  is  ecclesiastically  so  ;  and  I  therefore  address 
myself  to  you  with  a  confidence  far  stronger,  that 
what  I  shall  say  kindly  and  truly  will  be  kindly  and 
truly  weighed,  than  if  I  addressed  myself  to  a  priest 
from  ]\Iaynooth  or  Saint  Omer,  educated  merely  in  the 
literature  of  legends  and  liturgies,  and  whose  mind 
only  possessed  what  was  distilled  into  it  from  others. 
About  such  stupid,  sluggish  minds  you  must,  by  this 
time,  know  something.  I  shall  address  you  not  mere- 
ly as  a  priest  or  bishop,  but  as  a  high-minded  and  well- 
educated  gentleman. 

Permit  me  to  say  that  there  is  yet  another  reason 
why  I  have  felt  interested  in  your  career.  Y"ou  were 
born  in  Ireland — that  land  of  noble  spirits  and  of  warm 
hearts — that  sweetest  isle  of  the  ocean  ;  and  so  was  1. 
We  are  natives  of  the  same  soil ;  and  although  in  prin- 
ciple, by  education,  and  in  all  my  findings  thoroughly 
Ainerican,  yet  I  take  a  great  pride  in  the  high  achieve- 
ments of  native  Irishmen.  America  has  had  its  Mont- 
gomeries,  its  Clintons,  its  Emnjctts,  its  Porters,  its 
Brackenridges,  from  Ireland.  Its  sons  have  adorned 
the  bar,  the  bench,  thi-  jtulpit,  the  army,  the  navy,  tin- 
Legislatures,  the    Congress    rif    these    I'nited    States. 


40  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 


I'rofit  and  loss.  Uiiworlliy  taunt  Myself. 


That  there  are  multitudes  from  Ireland  who  are  no 
loss  to  their  own  country,  nor  any  advantage  to  this, 
can  not  be  denied.  The  evidence  is  every  where  pres- 
ent in  the  ignorance,  the  squalid  poverty  of  its  immi- 
grants. The  reasons  for  this  I  may  examine  hereafter. 
But  yet  we  have  many  fine  illustrations  of  Irish  gen- 
ius, character,  and  valor  all  along  our  history  ;  and  I 
have  regarded  yourself  as  one  of  them,  so  far  forth  as 
a  pushing  force  of  character  is  concerned,  and  I  have 
often  pointed  you  out  as  an  illustration  of  the  respect- 
ability which  Irish  character  is  capable  of  attaining 
when  relieved  from  the  burdens  that  oppress  and  de- 
base it.  Hence  I  have  regarded  as  your  eulogy  the 
sneers  of  those  who  have  addressed  you  as  "  John 
Hughes,  the  gardener."  Such  taunts  come  not  from 
true  men. 

Having  said  so  much  in  reference  to  you,  permit  me 
now  to  say  a  word  in  reference  to  myself.  I  have  just 
stated  that  I  was  born  in  Ireland.  I  may  say  to  you, 
in  addition,  that  I  was  born  of  Roman  Catholic  parents, 
and  received  my  early  education  in  the  full  faith  of 
that  Church  at  whose  altars  you  now  serve  with  such 
abihty.  I  was  baptized  by  a  priest — I  was  confirmed 
by  a  bishop — I  often  went  to  confession — I  have  worn 
my  amulets,  and  I  have  said  my  Pater  Nosters  and  my 
Hail  Marys  more  times  than  I  can  now  enumerate. 
When  a  youth,  none  excelled  me  in  my  attention  to 
mass,  nor  in  the  performance  of  the  penances  enjoined 
by  the  father  confessor  ;  and,  whatever  were  my  occa- 
sional mental  misgivings,  I  remained  a  true  son  of  the 
Church  until  I  had   at  least  outgrown   my  boyhood. 


T  O     B  I  S  H  O  P     U  U  ti  H  E  S.  41 

The  process  to  infidelity.  Silence  broken. 

Then,  on  as  full  an  examination  of  the  subject  as  I 
I  could  give  it,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  I  could 
not  remain  a  Roman  Catholic.  I  first  became  an  in- 
fidel. Knowing  nothing  of  religion  but  that  which 
was  taught  me  by  parents  and  priests,  and  thinking 
that  that  was  the  sum  of  it,  when  that  was  rejected, 
infidelity  became  my  only  alternative.  Could  it  be 
otherwise  ?  Subsequently,  by  the  reading  of  the  Bi- 
ble and  by  the  grace  of  God,  I  was  led  to  embrace  the 
rehgion  of  the  Gospel.  That  religion  I  have  now  for 
many  years  professed  and  taught,  and  in  connection 
with  a  Protestant  Church.  Unlike  many  who  have 
left  your  communion,  I  have  never  bitterly  assailed  it. 
I  am  utterly  unknown  in  the  list  of  the  champions  of 
Protestantism  versus  Popery  ;  but  yet  some  recent  oc- 
currences have  induced  me  to  break  a  long  silence,  and 
to  state,  in  a  series  of  letters  addressed  to  your  Right 
Reverence,  the  reasons  which  induced  me  to  leave 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  which  prevent  mo 
from  returning  to  it.  Of  these  letters,  this  is  the  first. 
I  ask  of  you  for  them  a  kind  and  candid  perusal. 

With  respect,  yours,  Kikwan. 


42  K  I  K  W  A  N  '  S     L  E  T  T  K  R  S 

(.'auses.  Priests  work  miracles.  Popular  belief. 


LETTER    IL 

Causes  of  early  Misgivings. — Priestly  Miracles. — Purgatory. — Praying 

to  Saints. 

My  dear  Sir, — In  my  last  letter  I  stated  to  you  that 
I  was  torn  of  Roman  Catholic  parents  ;  that  I  was 
baptized  and  confirmed  in  your  communion,  and  that 
for  many  years  I  have  been  in  connection  with  a  Prot- 
estant Church.  I  stated  that,  whatever  were  my  oc- 
casional mental  misgivings,  I  remained  a  true  son  of  ' 
the  Church  until  I  had  nearly  attained  the  years  of 
manhood  ;  and  that  then,  on  as  full  an  examination 
of  the  subject  as  I  could  give  it,  I  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  I  could  not  remain  a  Roman  Catholic.  Per- 
mit me,  in  the  present  letter,  to  state  to  you  the  causes 
of  my  early  misgivings  as  to  yours  being  a  true  church, 
and  as  to  its  holding  the  true  faith. 

You  know  very  well  the  common  belief  among  the 
Irish  peasantry  that  papal  priests  can  work  miracles. 
Whatever  may  be  the  teaching  of  the  priests  them- 
selves upon  the  point,  such  is  the  belief  of  the  people 
— a  belief  strongly  encouraged  by  the  conduct  of  their 
spiritual  leaders.  Hence,  in  diseases,  the  people  resort, 
not  so  much  to  the  physician  as  to  the  priest;  they 
depend  less  upon  the  power  of  medicine  than  upon  that 
of  priestly  charms.  Although  the  son  of  intelligent  pa- 
rents, and  educated  from  my  youth  for  the  mercantile 
profession,  the  miraculous  power  of  the  priest  is  yet 


T  O     B  I  S  H  O  P     H  U  G  H  E  S.  43 

Belief  encouraged.  Going  to  Father  C 's.  A  conclave. 

associated  with  my  earliest  recollections  of  liini ;  and, 
as  you  know  full  well,  the  belief  that  this  power  is  pos- 
sessed by  their  priests  is  one  of  the  leading  causes  why 
the  papal  Irish  bow  with  such  entire  and  unmanly  sub- 
mission to  them.  Nor  are  any  efforts  left  untried  to 
cherish  and  propagate  this  superstitious  idea. 

In  my  youth  there  were  two  things  which  greatly 
shook  my  faith  in  the  possession  of  this  power.  There 
resided  not  far  from  my  parental  residence  a  priest, 
whose  fame  as  a  miracle-worker  was  known  all  over 
the  county  in  which  he  resided.  The  road  to  his  house 
(called  in  that  country  a  bridle-road)  went  by  our  door. 
I  frequently  saw,  in  the  morning,  individuals  riding  by, 
with  a  little  keg  resting  before  them  on  the  saddle,  or 
a  jug  hanging  by  the  horse's  side.  I  often  asked  who 
they  were,  and  where  they  were  going.     I  was  told 

that  they  were  going  to  Father  C 's  to  get  some 

of  their  sick  cured.  I  asked  what  was  in  the  keg  or 
jug.  I  was  told  that  it  was  Irish  whiskey  to  pay  the 
priest  for  his  cures.  I  asked  why  they  went  so  early 
in  the  morning.  I  was  answered  that  milcss  they 
went  early  they  would  not  fmd  him  sober.  The  tab- 
ernacle of  i)oor  Father  C was  made  of  dry  clay, 

and  needed  a  daily  wetting. 

In  one  of  the  largo  interior  towns  of  Ireland  whcre 
I  resided,  the  bi.shop  of  the  diocese  met  his  priests,  or 
a  part  of  them,  once  a  year.  Their  meeting  was  al- 
ways held  in  the  house  where  I  resided,  and  over  the 
store  in  which  I  was  then  a  clerk.  Among  the  priests 
that  always  met  the  bishop  was  the  rollicking  Father 
B ,  whose  fame  as  a  miracle- worker  was  extensive. 


44  K  I  R  AV  A  N  '  S     L  E  T  T  E  R  S 

A  rollicking  priest.  ImpreBsive  argument. 

He  had  also  a  reputation  for  learnii;g  and  eloquence, 
and,  because  of  his  connection  with  an  old  and  wealthy 
family,  exerted  a  wide  social  influence.  He  always 
staid  with  us  when  he  came  to  town.  About  ten 
o'clock  one  night,  after  one  of  those  meetings  of  bishop 
and  priests,  I  went  out  to  shut  up  the  store  windows, 
and  hearing  a  singular  noise  in  the  gutter,  I  went  for- 
ward and  assisted  a  man  out  of  the  mire.  I  soon  rec- 
ognized him  to  be  Father  B ,  the  miracle- worker. 

Running  in,  I  announced,  with  some  excitement,  to 

the  lady  of  the  house,  that  Father  B was  drunk 

in  the  street.  I  received  for  my  pains  a  stunning  slap 
on  the  side  of  the  face,  with  this  admonition,  "  Never 
say  again  that  a  priest  is  drunk."  This  was  a  very 
impressive  argument,  and  which,  for  some  time,  rung 
in  my  ears.  I  staggered  under  the  blow.  I  assisted 
in  cleaning  off"  his  reverence.  I  gave  him  his  brandy 
next  morning ;  and,  young  as  I  was,  my  faith  in  mir- 
acle-working priests  was  effectually  shaken.  Although 
fearing  to  draw  the  conclusion,  I  felt  it,  that  G-od  would 
not  bestow  miraculous  power  upon  these  who  lived  a 
life,  not  of  occasional,  but  of  habitual  intemperance. 
And  I  would  ask  you,  sir,  whether  all  tliis  pretension 
to  miraculous  power  by  your  priests  is  not  a  gross  im- 
position upon  the  people,  for  the  double  purpose  of 
keeping  them  in  awe  and  getting  their  money  ?  Do 
not  deny  the  fact  in  the  face  of  many  witnesses,  and 
of  what  you  know,  do  not  evade  the  question.  Let 
the  bishop  be  silent,  and  the  man  of  sense  speak,  and 
I  have  no  fear  as  to  the  answer. 

The  doctrine  of  Purgatory,  yon  know,  sir,  is  one  of 


T  0     B  I  S  H  O  P     H  U  G  H  E  S.  45 

Purgatory.  The  dead  list.  A  circumstance 

the   peculiar   and  most    cherished  doctrines   of  your 
Church.     Indeed,  I  do  not  know  how  your  Church 
could  get  along  without  it,  as  by  it  you  build  your 
cathedrals  and  churches,  and  are  enabled  to  fare  sump- 
tuously every  day.     My  object  now  is  not  to  reason 
with  you  about  it,  nor  to  controvert  it,  but  to  state  to 
you  a  few  facts  in  reference  to  it,  that  made,  in  early 
life,  a  strong  impression  on  my  mind.     You  know  that 
in  Ireland  the  custom  of  the  priest  is,  at  a  certain  point 
in  the  service  of  the  Mass,  to  turn  his  back  to  the  altar 
and  his  face  to  the  people,  and  to  read  a  long  list  of 
the  names  of  deceased  persons  whose  souls  are  in  Pur- 
gatory, and  to  offer  up  a  prayer  for  their  deliverance 
from  it.     This  is  done,  or  used  to  be  done,  in  our  chap- 
el on  every  Sabbath.     To  obtain  the  name  of  a  deceased 
relative  on  that  magic  list,  the  priest  must  bo  paid  so 
much  a  year,  varying,  I  believe,  with  the  ability  of  the 
friends  to  pay.     If  the  yearly  payment  is  not  made 
when  due,  tlic  name  of  the  person  is  erased  from  the 
ILst.     A  circumstance  arising  out  of  this  custom  of 
your  Church,  occurring  in  my  boyhood,  is  distinctly 
before  me.     A  respectable  man  in  our  parish  died  in 
mid-life,  leaving  a  widow  and  a  largo  family  of  chil- 
dren to  mourn  liis  loss.     True  to  her  religious  princi- 
ples and  to  her  generous  instincts,  the  widow  had  her 
husband's  name  placed  on  that  list,  and  heard,  with 
pious  gratitude,  his  name  read  over  from  Sabbath  to 
Sabbath,  with  a  prayer  offered  for  the  deliverance  of 
his  soul  from  Purgatory.      After  the   lap^e  of  two  or 
three  years,  on   a  certain   Sabbath  the  name  of  her 
husband  was  omitted  from  the  list.     The  fact  filled 


46  KIRWAN's     LETTERS 

Tnx  not  paid.  Mortal  and  venial  sins. 

her  with  mingled  joy  and  fear  ;  joy,  thinking  that  her 
husband  had  escaped  from  Purgatory ;  and  fear,  lest 
she  had  done  something  to  offend  the  priest ;  and  you 
know  they  are  very  easily  oficnded  when  money  is  in 
question.  On  timid  inquiry,  she  learned  that  his  soul 
was  yet  in  Purgatory,  but  that  she  had  forgotten  to 
send  in  the  yearly  tax  at  the  time  it  was  due.  The 
tax  was  promptly  paid,  and  the  name  was  restored  on 
the  next  Sabbath.  With  this  fact,  sir,  I  am  entirely 
conversant ;  for  that  widow  was  my  own  mother,  who 
sought  the  release  of  the  soul  of  my  father  from  Pur- 
gatory. Can  you  wonder,  sir,  that  this  incident  made 
a  deep  impression  upon  my  youthful  mind,  or  that  it 
shook  my  faith  in  your  whole  system  ?     And,  as  far  as 

memory  serves  me,  Father  M was   an  amiable 

man,  and  above  the  ordinary  level  of  the  men  of  his 
calling. 

Another  fact  which  early  impressed  me  in  reference 
to  Purgatory  was  this.  Your  Church  makes  a  distinc- 
tion between  mortal  anji  venial  sinners.  The  former 
go  to  hell  forever  ;  the  latter  go  to  Purgatory,  "  whence 
they  are  taken  by  the  prayers  and  alms  offered  for 
them,  and  principally  by  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  Mass." 
Now  I  always  saw  that  the  7nosi  mortal  sinners,  that 
every  body  would  say  went  to  hell,  could  always  have 
masses  said  for  them  as  if  they  went  to  Purgatory, 
provided  their  friends  could  pay ;  and  that  less  mortal 
sinners,  that  people  would  say  went  to  Purgatory,  were 
sent  to  hell  if  their  friends  could  not  pay  for  masses 
for  them ;  and  their  souls  were  kept  in  Purgatory  for 
a  long  while  when  their  friends  paid  promptly  every 


T  O     B  I  S  H  O  P     II  U  G  H  E  S.  47 


Leo  X.  Prayers  to  saints.  Scenes  in  our  cliapel. 

year,  but  their  souls  were  soon  prayed  out  whose 
friends  could  not  pay  long  for  them.  Facts  like  these, 
sir,  very  early  impressed  my  mind,  and  shook  my  faith 
in  the  religion  of  my  parents  and  priests ;  and  when, 
in  maturer  years,  I  could  more  fully  consider  them, 
they  led  me  to  reject  religion  as  a  fable  cunningly  de- 
vised by  priests.  You  will  not  blame  me  for  this,  when 
even  Leo  X.,  of  blessed  memory,  boasted  of  the  profit- 
able account  to  which  they  had  turned  "  the  fable  about 
Jesus  Christ." 

Again  :  to  pray  to  angels  and  saints  is  a  doctrine  of 
your  Church.  I  am  quite  familiar  with  your  explana- 
tions of  it — with  the  distinctions  which  your  writers 
make  to  free  it  from  idolatry.  It  is  precisely  the  dis- 
tinction which  the  heathen  makes  to  get  rid  of  the 
same  charge.  Perhaps,  ere  these  letters  are  concluded, 
I  may  return  to  this  subject ;  I  have  only  to  do  now 
with  .some  of  my  early  impressions  in  reference  to  it. 
In  our  parish  chapel  there  were  a  great  many  pictures 
of  saints,  with  very  little  pretension  to  art,  and  which 
reflected  but  little  credit  on  painter  or  engraver.  Whose 
pictures  they  were  I  do  not  remember  ;  but  on  Sab- 
bath morning,  an  hour  before  mass,  I  have  often  seen 
the  pof)r  jieoplc,  and  even  soiik!  more  weahliy  and  ic- 
fincf],  going  on  their  kn<M-s  from  tin-  nw.  picture  to  ibc. 
other,  and  counting  their  beads,  and  bowing  before, 
them  with  external  acts  of  the  mo.st  profound  and  .•sin- 
cere worship.  Although  then  I  thouglit  dillerently,  I 
have  not  nf)W  a  doubt  but  that  it  was  idolatry.  But 
the  idea  that  struck  me  was  this  :  Here  are  some  pray- 
ing to  Peter,  or  Paul,  or  John,  or  Mary  ;   the  same 


48  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

J^ogic  about  prayers  to  saints. 

pictures  are  hung  up  in  ten  thousand  chapels  all  over 
the  world,  and  in  all  these  chapels  persons  are  praying 
to  them.  Can  these  good  saints  hear  but  in  one  place, 
or  can  they  hear  all  every  where  praying  to  them  ?  If 
they  can  hear  all,  then  they  are  omnipresent ;  if  om- 
nipresent, they  are  gods.  Thus  we  have  as  many  gods 
as  saints.  But  if  they  hear  but  in  one  place,  then  nine 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  out  of  the  ten 
tliousand  are  praying  to  an  absent  saint !  This  one 
thought,  reverend  sir,  very  early  in  life  impressed  my 
mind,  and  was  not  the  least  powerful  among  the  causes 
which  led  me,  eventually,  to  reject  the  authority  of 
your  Church.  How  does  this  strike  your  own  mind  ? 
More  of  these  causes  in  my  next. 

With  respect,  yours,  Kirwan. 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.     .  49 


Coulession.  Tlie  ])riesi's  horse.  Absolution. 


LETTER    III. 

Causes  of  early  Misgivings  continued. — Confession. — Holy  Wells. 

Prohibiting  the  Bible. — An  Incident. 

My  dear  Sir, — In  my  last  letter  I  commenced  a 
statement  to  you  of  the  causes  which,  in  early  life, 
caused  my  misgivings  and  distrust  as  to  yours  being 
a  true  Church,  and  as  to  its  holding  the  true  faith.  I 
referred  to  some  incidents  connected  with  the  claims 
of  your  priests  to  miraculous  power,  with  the  doctrine 
of  Purgatory,  and  with  praying  to  the  saints.  I  shall 
now  proceed  with  a  statement  of  some  more  of  those 
causes. 

The  doctrine  of  confession  is  one  of  the  primary  doc- 
trines of  your  Church.  It  requires  every  good  papist 
to  confess  his  sins  to  a  priest  at  least  once  a  year.  If 
any  sins  are  concealed,  none  are  forgiven.  This  doc- 
trmo  makes  the  bosom  of  the  priest  the  repository  of 
all  the  sins  of  all  the  sinners  of  his  pari.sh  who  make 
u  con.scicncc  of  confession.  Hence  the  common  .saying 
in  Ireland,  "  You  carry  as  much  sin  about  you  as  ihe 
priest's  horse."  And  this  is  one  of  the  sources  of  the 
fearful  power  which  your  priests  liave  over  your  peo- 
ple ;  and  with  this  doctrine  of  confc.s.sion  is  connected 
the  power  of  the  father  confes.'=:or  to  grant  absolution  to 
the  confessing  penitent.  It  is  sometimes  afTirmed,  iiud 
Wwn  denied,  to  suit  circumstance!?,  that  the  priest 
claims  such  power ;   Imf   l»i('ii;ill.iiirr.  in  his  "  Catho- 

0 


50  ■  K 1 11  \\"  A  i\  '  s    L  i;  r  r  i;  b  s 

Common  feeling.  The  way  of  coiifossins.  (iuuslioiicd. 

lie  Christian  Instructed,"  cliap.  9,  asserts  this  power, 
and  on  Avhat  lie  deems  scriptural  authority  ;  and  I 
never  knew  an  individual  who  came  from  confession, 
with  the  privilege  of  partaking  of  the  communion,  who 
did  not  feel  and  believe  that  his  sins  were  forgiven  him ; 
and  if  they  were  not  immediately  forgiven,  they  would 
be  on  the  performance  of  the  prescribed  penances.  You, 
sir,  will  not  say  that  I  either  misstate  or  misrepresent 
the  doctrine. 

Now  for  some  of  my  early  impressions  upon  this 

subject.     Father  ]\r held  frequently  his  confessions 

at  the  house  in  which  I  was  clerk.  He  sat  in  a  dark 
room  up  stairs,  with  one  or  more  candles  on  a  table 
before  him.  Those  going  to  confession  followed  each 
other  on  their  knees  froin  the  front  door,  through  the 
hall,  up  the  stairs,  and  to  the  door  of  the  room.  When 
one  came  out  of  the  confessing-room,  another  entered. 
My  turn  came.  I  entered  the  room,  from  which  the 
hght  of  day  was  excluded,  and  bowed  myself  before  the 
priest.  He  made  over  me  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and 
after  praying  something  in  Latin,  he  ordered  me  to 
commence  the  detail  of  my  sins.  Such  was  my  fright 
that  my  memory  soon  failed  in  bringing  up  past  delin- 
quencies. He  would  prompt  me,  and  ask,  Did  you  do 
this  thing  or  that  thing  ?  I  would  answer  yes  or  no. 
And  when  I  could  say  no  more,  he  would  wave  his 
hand  over  me,  and  again  utter  some  words  in  Latin, 
and  dismiss  me.  Through  this  process  I  often  went, 
and  never  without  feeling  that  my  sins  were  forgiven. 
Sins  that  burdened  me  before  were  now  disregarded. 
The  load  of  guilt  was  gone ;  and  I  often  felt,  when 


T  0     B  I  S  H  O  P     n  U  G  H  E  S.  51 

Encourages  to  sin.  A  device.  St.  John's  Well. 

prompted  to  sin,  that  I  could  commit  it  with  impunity, 
as  I  could  soon  confess  it  and  secure  its  pardon  ;  and 
this,  sir,  is  the  fearful  and  fatal  effect  of  your  doctrine 
of  confession  and  absolution  upon  millions  of  minds. 

The  questions,  however,  often  came  up,  Why  does 
the  priest  go  into  a  dark  room  in  the  daytime  ?  Why 
not  pray  for  me  in  English,  and  not  in  Latin?  How 
can  he  forgive  sin  ?  AVhat  if  my  sins,  after  all,  are 
not  forgiven  ?  And  I  always  found  that  I  could  play 
my  pranks  better  after  confession  than  before,  for  I 
could  go  at  them  with  a  lighter  heart.  Very  early  in 
life  my  confidence  in  this  doctrine  of  confession  was 
.shaken,  azid  at  a  later  period  I  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  was  a  priestly  device  to  ensnare  the  conscience 
and  to  enslave  men.  Do  you,  in  your  soul,  believe  it 
is  any  thing  else  ? 

Another  thing  which  made  early  a  deep  impression 
on  my  mind  was  this.  On  my  first  remembered  jour- 
ney to  Dublin,  we  passed  by  a  place,  •called,  unless  1 
mistake,  St.  John's  Well.  It  is,  as  you  know,  one  of 
the  "  holy  wells"  of  Ireland.  There  was  a  vast  crowd  of 
poor-looking  and  diseased  people  around  it.  Some  were 
praying,  some  shouting ;  many  were  up  in  the  trees 
wliich  surrounded  it.  All  these  trees  were  laden,  in  all 
their  branches,  with  shreds  of  cloth  of  every  possible  va- 
riety and  color,  f  inquired  what  all  this  meant.  1  was 
told, "  This  is  St.John's  Well,  and  these  people  come  here 
to  get  cured."  P>tit  what  do  tho.so  rags  mean,  hanging 
on  the  trees  ?  I  was  told  that  the  people  who  were  not 
immediately  cured  tied  a  ])iece  of  their  garments  on 
i<omp  limb  of  Ihf^  trees,  to  kmp  the  ^nod  snint  of  tlio 


52  Iv  I  11  AV  A  N  ^  S     LETTERS 

Rags  in  memorial.  Relic  ofDruidism.  St.  Patrick's  Well. 

well  in  mind  of  their  application ;  and,  judging  from 
the  number  of  pieces  tied  on  the  trees,  I  inferred  that 
the  number  that  went  away  cured  were  very  few.  I 
had  previously  read  some  travels  in  Africa  describing 
some  of  the  religious  rites  of  the  sable  sons  of  that  con- 
tinent, and  the  thought  that  those  performed  around 
k>t.  Jolin's  Well  were  just  like  them  occurred  to  me. 
I  have  no  doubt  but  that  the  rites  witnessed  in  my 
youth  are  performed  there  yet ;  that  the  rags  of  dis- 
eased persons  are  now  streaming  from  those  trees  to 
remind  the  saint  of  the  requests  of  those  who  suspend- 
ed them.  There  was  always  a  priest  present  to  hear 
confessions,  and  to  receive  the  pennies  of  the  poor  pil- 
grims ;  and  the  impression  then  made  upon  my  mind 
was,  that  it  was  a  piece  of  paganism  ;  and  I  have  since 
learned  that  it  is  a  relic  of  Druidism  ;  and  the  rites 
and  ceremonies  about  this  well,  I  learn,  are  nothing  in 
comparison  with  those  performed  at  the  wells  of  Saint 
Patrick,  in  the'  county  Down.  I  will  here  insert  an 
account  of  a  festival  at  St.  Patrick's  Well,  as  given  by 
an  eye-witness : 

"^Tien  or  how  the  custom  which  I  shall  describe 
originated,  I  know  not,  nor  is  it  necessary  to  inquire ; 
but  every  Midsummer  eve  thousands  of  Roman  Catho- 
lics, many  from  distant  parts  of  the  country,  resort  to 
these  celebrated  holy  wells  to  cleanse  their  souls  from 
sin,  and  clear  their  mortal  bodies  of  diseases.  The  in- 
flux of  people  of  different  ranks,  for  some  nights  before 
the  one  in  which  alone,  during  the  whole  year,  these 
wells  possess  this  power  (for  on  all  other  days  and 
nights  in  the  year  they  rank  not  above  common  draw- 


T  O     B  I  S  H  O  P     H  U  G  H  E  S.  53 

Ueggars.  Coup  d'cpil.  Fanatics. 

wells),  is  prodigious ;  and  their  attendants,  hordes  of 
beggars,  whose  ragged  garments,  if  once  taken  off, 
could  not  be  put  on  again  by  the  ingenuity  of  man,  in- 
fest the  streets  and  lanes,  and  choose  their  lodgings  in 
the  highways  and  hedges.  Having  been  previously 
informed  of  the  approach  of  this  miraculous  night,  and 
having  made  ourselves  acquainted  with  the  locality  of 
the  wells,  early  in  the  evening  we  repaired  to  the  spot. 
"We  had  been- told  that  we  should  see  something  quite 
new  to  us,  and  we  met  with  what  scarcely  was  credi- 
ble on  ocular  evidence.  The  spot  on  which  this  scene 
of  superstitious  folly  was  exhibited  was  admirably 
adapted  to  heighten  every  attendant  circumstance  of 
it ;  the  wonderful  wells,  of  which  there  are  four,  being 
situated  in  a  square  or  patch  of  ground,  surrounded  by 
steep  rocks,  which  reverberated,  every  sound,  and  re- 
doubled all  the  confusion.  The  covp  (Vail  of  the 
square  on  our  approach  presented  a  floating  mass  of 
various-colored  heads,  and  our  ears  were  astonished 
with  confused  and  mingled  sounds  of  mirth  and  sor- 
row— of  frantic,  enthusiastic  joy,  and  deep,  desponding 
ravings.  On  descending  into  the  square,  we  found 
ourselves  immediately  in  the  midst  of  innumerable 
groups  of  these  fanatics,  running  in  all  directions,  con- 
fusedly in  appearance,  but  methodically,  as  we  after- 
ward found,  in  reality  ;  the  men  and  the  women  were 
barefooted,  and  the  heads  of  all  were  bound  round  with 
handkerchiefs.  Some  were  running  in  circles,  some 
were  kneeling  in  groups,  some  were  singing  in  wild 
concert,  some  were  juinj)ing  about  like  maniacs  at 
the  end  of  an  old  JHiilding,  which,  wt-  wen.*  told,  was 


54  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

Old  ruins.  Terrible  ascent.  The  old  man. 

the  ruins  of  a  chapel  erected,  with  several  adjacent 
buildings,  in  one  miraculous  Midsummer's  night  by 
the  tutelary  saint  of  the  wells,  of  whose  talent  as  a 
mason  they  give,  it  must  be  confessed,  no  very  exalted 
opinion.  When  we  had  somewhat  recovered  from  the 
first  surprise,  which  the  (to  us)  unaccountably  fantas- 
tic actions  of  the  crowd  had  given  us,  we  endeavored 
to  trace  the  progress  of  some  of  these  deluded  votaries 
through  all  the  mazes  of  their  mystic  penance.  The 
first  object  of  them  all  appeared  to  be  the  ascent  of  the 
steepest  and  most  rugged  part  of  the  rock,  up  which 
both  men  and  women  crawled  their  painful  way  on 
their  hands  and  bare  knees.  The  men's  clothes  were 
all  made  so  as  to  accommodate  their  knees  with  all  the 
sharpness  of  the  pointed  rock ;  and  the  poor  women, 
many  of  them  young  and  beautiful,  took  incredible 
pains  to  prevent  their  petticoats  from  affording  any  de- 
fense against  its  torturing  asperities.  Covered  with 
dust,  and  perspiration,  and  blood,  they  at  last  reached 
the  summit  of  the  rock,  where,  in  a  rude  sort  of  chair 
hewn  out  of  the  stone,  sat  an  old  man,  probably  one 
of  their  priesthood,  who  seemed  to  be  the  representa- 
tive of  St.  Patrick,  and  the  high-priest  of  this  religious 
phrensy.  In  his  hat  each  of  the  penitents  deposited  a 
halfpenny,  after  which  he  turned  them  round  a  certain 
number  of  times,  listened  to  the  long  catalogue  of  their 
offenses,  and  dictated  to  them  the  penance  they  were 
to  undergo  or  perform.  Then  they  descended  the  rock 
by  another  path,  but  in  the  same  manner  and  posture, 
equally  careful  to  be  cut  by  the  flints,  and  to  suffer  as 
much  as  possible ;   this  was,  perhaps,  more  painful 


T  O     B  I  S  H  O  P     II  U  G  H  E  S.  55 

The  descent.  A  beggar.  Touching  the  stone. 

traveling  than  the  ascent  had  been;  the  suffering 
knees  were  rubbed  another  way  ;  every  step  threaten- 
ed a  tumble,  and  if  any  thing  could  have  been  lively 
there,  the  ridiculous  attitudes  of  these  descenders  would 
have  made  us  so.  AVhen  they  gained  the  foot  of  the 
hill,  they  (most  of  them)  bestowed  a  small  donation  of 
charity  on  some  miserable  gi-oups  of  supplicants  who 
were  stationed  there.  One  beggar,  a  cripple,  sat  on 
the  ground,  at  one  moment  addressing  the  crowd  be- 
hind him,  and  swearing  that  all  the  Protestants  ought 
to  be  burned  out  of  the  country,  and,  in  the  same 
breath,  begging  the  penitents  to  give  him  one  halfpen- 
ny for  the  love  of  '  sivate  blessed  Jasus.''  The  peni- 
tents now  returned  to  the  use  of  their  feet,  and  com- 
menced a  running  sort  of  Irish  jiggish  walk  round  sev- 
eral cairns  or  heaps  of  stones  erected  at  different  spaces. 
This  lasted  for  some  time.  Suddenly  they  would  pros- 
trate themselves  before  the  cairn,  and  ejaculate  some 
hasty  prayers ;  as  suddenly  they  would  rise  and  resume 
their  mill-horse  circumrotation.  Their  eyes  were  fixed ; 
their  looks  sp(jkc  anxiety,  almost  despair  ;  and  the 
operation  of  their  faculties  seemed  totally  susp(>ndcd. 
They  then  proceeded  to  one  end  of  the  old  chapel,  and 
seemed  to  believe  that  there  was  a  virtu(>,  unknown  lo 
us  heretics,  in  one  particular  stone  of  the  building, 
which  every  one  was  careful  to  touch  with  the  right 
hand.  Those  wIkj  were  tall  did  it  easily  ;  those  who 
were  less  left  no  mode  of  jumping  unpracticod  to  ac- 
complish it.  I'ut  the  most  remarkable,  and  doubtless 
the  most  eflieicnt  of  the  ceremonies,  was  reserved  for 
the  last ;  and  surely  nothing  was  ever  devised  by  man 


0()  K  1  U  \\'  A  N  '  S    L  E  T  T  K  R  S 

U'hc  bathing  scene.  Dressing.  The  debauch. 

which  more  forcibly  evinced  how  low  our  nature  can 
descend.  Around  the  largest  of  the  wells,  which  was 
in  a  building  very  much,  to  common  eyes,  like  a  sta- 
ble, all  those  who  had  performed  their  penances  were 
assembled,  some  dressing,  some  undressing,  many  stark 
naked.  A  certain  number  of  them  were  admitted  at 
a  time  into  this  holy  well,  and  there  men  and  women 
of  every  age  bathed  promiscuously  without  any  cover- 
ing. They  undressed  before  bathing,  and  performed 
the  whole  business  of  the  toilet  afterward  in  the  open 
air,  in  the  midst  of  the  crowd,  without  appearing  sen- 
sible of  the  observations  of  lookers-on,  perfectly  regard- 
less of  decency,  perfectly  dead  to  all  natural  sensations. 
This  was  a  strange  sight,  but  so  nearly  resembling  the 
feast  of  lunatics,  that  even  the  voluptuary  would  have 
beheld  it  without  any  emotions  but  those  of  dejection. 
The  penance  having  terminated  in  this  marvelous  ab- 
lution, the  penitents  then  adjourned  cither  to  booths 
and  tents  to  drink,  or  join  their  friends.  The  air  then 
rang  with  musical,  monotonous  singing,  which  became 
louder  with  every  glass  of  whisky,  finishing  in  frolic- 
some debauch,  and  laying,  in  all  probability,  the  foun- 
dation for  future  penances  and  more  thorough  ablu- 
tions. No  pen  can  describe  all  the  confusion,  no  de- 
scription can  give  a  just  idea  of  the  noise  and  disorder 
which  filled  this  hallowed  square,  this  theatre  of  fa- 
naticism, this  temple  of  superstition,  of  which  the  rites 
rival  all  that  we  are  told  of  in  the  East.  The  minor 
parts  of  the  spectacle  were  filled  up  with  credulous 
mothers  half  drowning  their  poor  children  to  cure  their 
sore  eyes ;  with  cripples  who  exhibited  every  thing  that 


T  O     C  I  S  11  O  P     H  U  G  H  E  S.  57 

The  diseased.  The  roads.  The  priests. 

has  yet  been  discovered  in  deformity,  expecting  to  bo 
washed  straight,  and  to  walk  away  nimbly  and  comely. 
"  The  experience  of  years  had  not  shaken  their  faith ; 
and  though  nobody  was  cured,  nobody  went  away 
doubting.  Shouting,  and  howling,  and  swearing,  and 
carousings  filled  up  every  pause,  and  '  threw  o'er  this 
spot  of  earth  the  air  of  hell.'  I  was  never  more 
shocked  and  struck  with  horror  ;  and  perceiving  many 
of  them  intoxicated  with  religious  fervor  and  all-potent 
whisky,  and  warming  into  violence  before  midnight, 
at  which  time  the  distraction  w^as  at  its  climax,  I  left 
this  scene  of  human  degradation  in  a  state  of  mind 
not  easily  to  be  described.  The  whole  road  from  the 
wells  to  the  neighboring  town  was  crowded  with  such 
supplicants  as  preferred  mortal  halfpence  to  holy  pen- 
ance. The  country  around  was  illuminated  with 
watch-fires  ;  the  demons  of  discord  and  fear  were 
abroad  in  the  air ;  the  pursuits  of  the  world  and  the 
occupations  of  the  peaceful  appeared  put  a  stop  to 
by  the  performance  of  ceremonies,  disgraceful  when 
applied  to  propitiate  an  all-compassionate  divinity, 
whom  these  religionists  were  determined  and  taught 
to  consider  jealous  rather  than  merciful.  I  wish  it 
were  in  my  powt^r,  without  insincerity,  to  pay  a  com- 
pliment to  the  Iri.sh  Catholic  clergy.  On  this  occasion 
they  were  the  mad  priests  of  these  Bacchanalian  or- 
gies— the  fomcnters  of  fury — the  settcrs-on  to  .strife* — 
the  mischievous  mini.sters  of  the  debasement  of  their 
people,  lending  their  aid  to  plunge  their  Credulous  con- 
gregations in  ceremonious  horrors."* 

•  M'rJavin'K  ProtcmtanJ.  p  40:1. 

C  2 


08  K  I  R  A\'  A  N  '  S     L  E  T  T  E  R  S 

Impostures.  The  sun  dancing.  Father  Sheely. 

Now,  sir,  can  you,  as  a  man  of  high  intelligence,  re- 
gard these  things  in  any  other  light  than  as  the  merest 
impostures  to  delude  the  ignorant  ?  And  what  epithet 
sufficiently  expressive  of  abhorrence  can  we  apply  to 
the  priesthood  who  thus  impose  upon  a  credulous  peo- 
ple ?     Can  Hindooism  surpass  this  in  its  worst  orgies? 

I  well  remember  yet  another  of  these  impostures. 
AVhen  a  boy,  I  often  heard  that,  on  the  morning  of 
Easter  Sunday,  the  sun  might  be  seen  dancing  in  the 
heavens  and  in  the  chapels,  to  express  its  joy  on  the 
anniversary  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  I  often 
wished  to  be  where  I  could  witness  the  phenomenon. 
It  took  place  in  a  certain  chapel,  and  in  the  presence 
of  many  pious  and  admiring  beholders.  An  unbeliev- 
er in  priestly  miracles  was  present,  who  traced  up  the 
dancing  of  the  sunbeams  through  the  chapel  to  an 
individual  managing  concealed  mirrors  so  as  to  pro- 
duce the  wonderful  effect !  Of  this  I  heard ;  and  al- 
though it  seemed  incredible,  yet  it  made  an  impression 
on  my  mind.  The  probability  of  the  imposture  can 
not  be  doubted  by  those  who  know  that  the  earth 
which  covers  the  grave  of  Father  Sheely  (who  was 
convicted  of  treason,  and  hung  in  the  county  of  Tip- 
perary),  when  boiled  in  milk,  cures  a  variety  of  dis- 
eases. Would  that  we  had  not  convincing  evidence  of 
far  worse  impositions  than  this  I 

The  Bible,  with  all  its  notes  and  glosses,  as  publish- 
ed by  the  authority  of  your  own  Church,  is  denied  by 
you  to  be  a  complete  rule  of  faith.  On  this  question  I 
will  not  now  enter,  only  so  far  as  to  say  that  this  de- 
nial holds  a  very  intimate  connection. with  its  virtual 


TO    BISHOP     HUGHES.  •')9 

The  Bible,  how  treated.  Excluded.  No  preaching. 

withholding  from  the  people.     If  not  a  complete  rule, 
it  may  lead  astray ;  and  as  it  is  capable  of  opposite  in- 
terpretations in  some  of  its  passages,  the  souls  of  the 
people  must  not  be  endangered  by  its  general  circula- 
tion.    It  is  better  to  know  nothing  of  the  Bible  than 
in  some  particulars  to  misinterpret  it  I     Your  infaUible 
Church  teaches  both  ways  on  a  variety  of  subjects,  and, 
among  the  rest,  on  the  circulation  of  the  Bible.     It  al- 
lows it  in  Protestant  countries,  with  some  stringent 
regulations  ;  it  virtually  forbids  it  in  purely  papal  coun- 
tries.    How  many  Bibles  could  your  reverence  procure 
in  Spam,  Portugal,  Naples,  or  Italy  ?     In  your  many 
visits  to  Rome,  to  give  an  account  of  yourself  to  your 
master,  have  you  ever  sought  for  a  Bible  in  its  book- 
stores?    How  many  Spaniards  or  Italians  have  ever 
read  a  Bible  through  ?     How  many  of  the  Irish  peas- 
antry that  can  read  and  write  have  ever  read  one  chap- 
ter of  it  ?     Now,  sir,  for  years  together,  I  sat  daily  at 
table  with  a  Catholic  priest,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
family,  and  the  curate  of  the  parish,  and  I  never  saw 
a  i^iblo  used  in  the  family.     I  never  heard  at  table,  or 
in  the  morning,  or  in  the  evening,  a  rc^ligious  service. 
The  nuirdjcrs  of  the  Douay  Bible,  published  by  subscrip- 
tion in  fcjlio,  were  taken  in  the  family,  but  never  read. 
And  not  only  so,  but  1  never  lieard  a  sermon  preached 
in  a  Catliolic  chapel  in  Ireland,  nor  a  word  of  explana- 
tion on  a  single  Christian  topic,  doctrine,  or  duty.     The 
thing  nearest  to  a  sermon  that  T  heard  was  a  scold  from 
the  altar  because  some  person  sent  for  iln-  priest  at 
midnight  to  confess  and  anoint  a  dying  person.      And 
hehrc  I  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  T  never  read  a  rhrip- 


60  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     L  E  T  T  E  R  S 

The  people  ignorant.  Search  and  welcome. 

ter  in  the  word  of  G-od,  while  in  other  respects  my  ed- 
ucation was  not  neglected.  I  often  asked  the  mean- 
ing of  this  thing  and  the  other,  but  there  was  no  ex- 
planation ;  nor  can  one  out  of  one  thousand,  in  papal 
countries,  give  a  single  reason  for  one  of  your  peculiar 
doctrines  or  duties.  And  since,  in  the  maturity  of  my 
judgment,  I  have  examined  this  matter,  I  have  greatly 
commended  your  wisdom  in  withholding  the  Bible  from 
the  people  ;  if  I  were  a  bishop  or  a  priest  of  your 
Church,  with  no  better  principles  than  the  rest  of  you, 
I  would  do  the  same.  I  heard  a  man  who  lived  near 
the  Canada  line,  in  Vermont,  during  the  last  war  with 
G-reat  Britain,  tell  the  following  story.  "  There  was," 
said  he,  "  much  smuggling  going  on.  "Wlienever  we 
met  a  traveler  with  a  pack  of  any  kind,  we  ordered  it 
to  be  searched.  Honest  men  always  said,  '  Search  and 
welcome.'  But  whenever  a  man  refused,  or  made  any 
fuss  about  it,  we  always  suspected  that  there  were  con- 
traband goods  in  the  pack,  and  we  were  never  mis- 
taken." You  have  brought  contraband  goods  into  the 
house  of  God,  and  the  Bible  tells  the  people  so.  Hence 
it  is  forbidden.  Light  is  the  sure  death  of  darkness. 
The  circulation  of  the  Bible  will  be  the  death  of  your 
whole  system. 

AVith  respect  yours,  Kiravan. 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  61 

Road  to  infidelity.  The  mind  untaught 


LETTER   IV. 

Transition  from  Popery  to  Infidelity. — Inquiry  awakened. — Abstinence 
from  Meats. — The  Mass. — Confession. — Transubstantiation. — Reli- 
gion vanishes. 

My  dear  Sir, — In  my  last  two  letters  I  have  stated 
to  you  some  of  the  causes  of  my  early  misgivings  as  to 
yours  being  a  true  Church,  and  as  to  its  holding  the 
true  faith.  These  causes  I  might  multiply  indefinitely, 
for  you  Avcll  know  it  to  be  a  law  of  the  human  mind 
that,  when  its  confidence  is  once  shaken,  it  sees  causes 
of  suspicion  even  in  things  true  and  honest.  In  my 
first  letter  I  stated  to  you  that,  when  I  deliberately  re- 
jected the  authority  and  teachings  of  your  Church,  I 
became  an  infidel,  and  my  object  in  the  present  let- 
ter is  to  reveal  to  you  the  process  through  which  my 
mind  passed  in  its  transition  from  popery  to  infidelity. 
I  believe  that  your  reverence  will  pronounce  it  a  very 
natural  one. 

On  reaching  the  years  of  maturity,  my  mind  was  a 
perfect  blank  as  to  all  religious  knowledge  ;  nnd  if  in- 
struction is  ever  given  by  your  Church  or  priests,  my 
advantages  were  peculiarly  good  for  receiving  it.  In- 
deed, I  was  even  talked  of  as  a  candidate  for  Maynoolh. 
While  my  mind  was  filled  with  .superstitious  notions 
concerning  meats  and  penances,  nnd  external  observ- 
ances and  legends,  it  was  utterly  ignorant  of  the  Bible. 
Willi  my  Mi.'^sal  T  was  somewhat  familiar:  I  .^aid  the 


62  K I R  W  A  N  '  S    L  E  T  T  K  R  S 

Common  sense.  No  answer.  Spirit  of  inquiry. 

Catechism  when  I  was  confirmed  at  the  age  of  nine 
or  ten,  and  that  was  the  amount  of  my  rehgious  edu- 
cation. At  the  age  of  eighteen  years  the  Catechism 
was  forgotten  and  the  Missal  was  neglected ;  and  as 
my  conscience  was  uneducated,  and  my  mind  unfur- 
nished with  religious  principles,  the  only  test  of  truth 
left  me  was  my  common  sense.  I  then  became  the 
associate  of  companions  of  Protestant  education,  who 
would  sometimes  ask  me  my  reason  for  this  and  that 
observance,  and  not  being  able  to  give  any,  as  none 
were  ever  given  me,  I  was  frequently  put  to  the  blush. 
I  candidly  state  to  you  that  it  was  in  this  way  I  was 
first  led  to  bring  to  the  test  of  my  common  sense,  then 
my  only  standard,  some  of  the  doctrines  and  rites  of 
your  Church ;  and  this  reveals  the  reason  why  your 
priesthood  is  so  intensely  concerned  that  Catholic  chil- 
dren should  be  guarded  from  all  contact  with  those  of 
Protestant  education.  The  spirit  of  inquiry  is  conta- 
gious, and  Pope,  bishops,  and  priests  fear  it  worse  than 
the  plague.  Its  indulgence,  you  know,  either  is,  or 
leads  to,  mortal  sin.  Let  me  briefly  state  to  you  some 
of  the  effects  of  this  spirit  of  inquiry  upon  me. 

From  my  youth  up  I  was  taught  to  abstain  from  all 
meats  on  Fridays  and  Saturdays.  AVhy  on  these  days 
more  than  any  other  I  was  never  told.  And  if  by  mis- 
take I  was  involved  in  the  violation  of  this  law,  I  felt  a 
burden  upon  my  conscience  of  which  confession  could 
only  relieve  me.  Circumstances  led  me  to  inquire  into 
this  matter.  I  saw  good  papists  eating  eggs,  and  fish, 
and  getting  drunk  on  these  days,  but  this  was  no  vio- 
lation of  the  law  of  the  Church  !     Yet,  if  these  per.«!ons 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  Go 

Eating  meat.  First  step.  Questions  about  the  mass. 

should  eat  meat  of  any  kinil,  or  use  gravy  in  any  way, 
their  consciences  were  troubled,  and  they  must  perform 
penance !  This  led  me  to  ask,  Is  this  reasonable  ?  If 
I  may  eat  meat  on  Thursday,  why  not  on  Friday  ?  Can 
Gfod,  in  things  of  this  kind,  make  that  to  be  a  sin  on 
one  day  which  is  not  on  another  ?  I  saw,  also,  persons 
for  whose  moral  worth  I  had  the  highest  regard,  eating 
meats  on  those  days,  and  without  any  injury  !  And  I 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  your  regulations  upon  this 
matter  were  unreasonable,  and  rejected  them.  And, 
as  far  as  I  now  remember,  this  was  my  first  step  to- 
ward light  and  freedom. 

Whether  our  course  is  upward  toward  the  region  of 
light,  or  downward  toward  that  of  darkness,  one  step 
always  prepares  for  another.  Devoted  to  reading  at 
this  period  of  my  life,  I  perused,  without  discrimina- 
tion, every  thing  that  came  in  my  way.  Some  book 
or  tract,  now  forgotten,  gave  rise  to  some  inquiries  as 
to  the  Ma.ss.  I  asked,  AVhat  does  it  mean?  I  could 
not  tell,  though  for  years  a  regular  attendant  upon  it. 
AVhy  docs  the  priest  dress  so?  AVliat  book  does  he 
read  from  when  carried  now  to  his  right  and  now  to 
his  left?  AVhat  mean  those  candles  burning  at  noon- 
day ?  Why  do  I  say  prayers  in  Latin  which  1  under- 
.stand  not  ?  .Should  I  not  know  what  I  am  saying 
when  addressing  my  Maker  ?  Why  bow  down,  and 
strike  my  breast,  when  the  little  bell  rings  ?  What 
docs  it  all  mean  ?  The  darkness  of  Egypt  rested  upon 
these  questions.  I  thus  reasoned  witii  myself:  Tiod  is 
a  spiritual  and  intelligent  being,  and  he  requires  an  iii- 
tf'lligfiit  worslii]).     Wlint  wnr.'^liij)  T  render  liiiii  in  tlie 


64 


K  1  R  \V  A  N     S     L  K  T  T  10  R  S 


How  I  reasoned.  Farcical  rite.  Confession. 


Mass,  I  know  not.  My  intelligent  worship  only  is  ac- 
ceptable to  him,  and  is  beneficial  to  me.  I  am  a  ra- 
tional being,  and  I  degrade  my  nature  and  insult  my 
Maker  by  offering  to  him  a  worship  in  which  neither 
my  reason  nor  His  intelligence  is  consulted.  Having 
come  to  this  conclusion,  I  gave  up  the  Mass  as  a  su- 
perstitious form,  well  enough  fitted  for  an  idol,  but  un- 
fitted to  be  rendered  by  a  rational  being  to  the  infinite- 
ly inteUigent  Jehovah.  I  have  never  been  to  Mass 
since,  save  out  of  curiosity  to  sec  how  an  ignorant  peo- 
ple can  be  edified  by  what  seems  to  me  the  most  un- 
meaning and  farcical  of  all  the  rites  that  ever  man  has 
devised ;  and  you  know,  sir,  that,  with  all  devotion 
and  honesty,  a  Catholic  may  wait  on  your  masses  until 
his  locks  are  as  white  as  your  surplice,  and  then  pass 
into  eternity  without  one  single  spiritual  idea  upon  the 
subject  of  religion,  resolving  it  all  into  external  observ- 
ances. To  test  this  point  to  the  satisfaction  of  a  friend, 
I  recently  asked  an  aged  Irish  papist,  with  whom  I  was 
acquainted,  some  questions  as  to  the  way  to  be  saved, 
and  no  k^outh  Sea  Islander  could  exhibit  more  entire 
ignorance  on  the  whole  subject. 

When  I  came  to  the  above  conclusion  on  the  subject 
of  the  Mass,  I  experienced  no  great  difficulty  as  to  oth- 
er matters  which  passed  rapidly  in  review  before  me. 
Must  I  go  to  confession  ?  My  prejudices  said  Yes ; 
my  reason  said  No ;  and  my  logic  was  simply  as  fol- 
lows :  If  I  truly  repent  of  my  sins,  God  will  forgive 
me  ;  if  I  do  not,  the  priest  can  not  absolve  me  ;  and  I 
spurned  as  unreasonable,  and  as  an  insult  to  my  com- 
mon sense,  your  terrible  doctrine  that  "  every  Christian 


TO     BISHOP    HUGHES.  65 

Horrible  dogma.  Transubstantiation. 

is  bound,  under  pain  of  damnation,  to  confess  to  a 
priest  all  his  mortal  sins,  which,  after  diligent  exam- 
ination, he  can  possibly  remember ;  yea,  even  his  most 
secret  sins — ^his  very  thoughts ;  yea,  and  all  the  cir- 
cumstances of  them  which  are  of  any  moment."  I 
ask  you,  sir,  if  this  dogma  of  the  Council  of  Trent  is 
not  a  horrible  dogma  ?  It  suspends  upon  confessing  to 
a  priest  what  the  Bible  suspends  on  believing  in  Christ ! 
Do  you,  sir,  believe  it  ?  Can  you  believe  it  ?  It  is  too 
monstrous  a  dogma  to  impose  on  an  ignorant  people. 

With  yet  greater  abhorrence  I  gave  up  the  doctrine 
of  transubstantiation.  As  explained  by  Dr.  Challo- 
ner,  in  his  '•  Catholic  Christian  Instructed,"  chap.  5,  it 
means  "  that  the  bread  and  wine  are  changed  by  the 
consecration  into  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ ;  and  are 
so  changed  that  Christ  himself,  true  God  and  true  man, 
is  truly,  really,  and  substantially  present  in  the  sacra- 
ment." With  this  doctrine  in  view,  I  went  to  witness 
the  administration"  of  the  Eucharist,  as  you  call  it.  I 
went  to  {^aint  Peter's,  in  Barclay  Street.  The  com- 
municants drew  around  the  altar  upon  their  knees. 
With  a  little  box  in  his  hand,  the  priest  passed  from 
one  to  the  other,  taking  a  wafer,  smaller  than  that  used 
in  sealing  a  letter,  from  the  box,  and  placing  it  upon 
the  extended  tongue  of  the  coiinrmnicant.  I  was  al- 
ways taught  that  the  teeth  must  not  touch  the  wafer 
— that  it  must  melt  upon  the  tongue.  This  I  find  to 
be  the  law  of  your  Church.  I  witnessed  the  ceremony, 
as  I  had  often  done  before.  I  retired  from  the  scene 
asking  these  (|uestions:  Is  that  little  wafer  the  rcil 
body  and  blf>od  of  Ciirist?     Does  the  priest,  in  that  lit- 


66  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     h  E  T  T  l',  K  S 

• 

Questions  about  the  warer.  A  Juggle.  Leads  to  infidelity. 


tie  box,  not  as  large  as  a  snuff-box,  carry  two  or  three 
hundred  real  bodies  of  Christ?  Do  these  communi- 
cants, each  in  their  turn,  eat  the  real  body  and  blood 
of  Christ  ?  My  dear  sir,  I  can  not  express  to  you  the 
violence  with  which  my  mind  rejected  the  absurdity. 
Look  at  it  in  what  light  you  may,  it  is  abhorrent  to 
our  common  reason :  it  gives  the  lie  to  every  sense 
with  which  Grod  has  endowed  us.  It  is  a  wucked  im- 
position. It  is  an  impious  priestly  hoax,  which,  if 
practiced  by  a  juggler,  would  subject  him  to  the  pen- 
alties of  the  law  against  blasphemy. 

Having  gone  through  this  process,  not  with  a  light 
and  trifling,  but  with  a  serious  mind,  my  prejudices 
rising  in  stormy  rebellion  against  my  convictions,  I 
raised  my  eyes,  and  behold,  my  religion  was  gone  I 
The  priest  was  a  juggler,  and  his  religion  a  fable ! 
Every  thing  that  I  had  ever  learned  from  parent  and 
priest  to  esteem  as  religion  was  now  rejected  as  false ; 
and  not  knowing  but  that  this  was  all  of  religion  that 
w^as  in  the  world,  I  had  no  alternative  but  infidelity. 
I  had  no  test  of  truth  but  my  reason,  and  when  I 
brought  your  system  to  that,  I  was  compelled  to  reject 
it,  not  only  as  false,  but  as  a  monstrous  absurdity,  and 
with  it  all  religion. 

Nor  have  I,  dear  sir,  any  hesitation  in  saying  that 
the  process  of  my  own  mind  from  popery  to  infidelity  is 
that  through  which  multitudes  of  minds  have  passed 
and  are  now  passing.  To  an  inquiring  mind,  which 
knows  nothing  of  the  Bible,  infidelity  is  the  fruit  of 
popery.  Hence,  in  papal  countries,  while  the  masses 
are  superstitious  and  immoral,  the  intelligent  and  edu- 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  67 

Papal  countrie?  infidel.  Ecclesiastics  infidels. 

cated  are  infidel.  If  they  sustain  the  vulgar  religion, 
it  is  for  reasons  of  state.  Hence  the  infidelity  of 
France,  of  Spain,  of  Italy.  At  the  present  hour,  the 
mind  of  these  countries  is  more  infidel  than  papal ; 
and  this  is  true  of  every  country  on  the  globe  where 
your  religion  prevails.  It  makes  the  masses  supersti- 
tious, and  the  intelligent  infidels. 

And  permit  me  to  say,  my  dear  sir,  in  reference  to 
yourself,  that  I  have  far  too  high  a  regard  for  your  in- 
telligence to  admit  for  a  moment  that  you  believe  in 
the  absurd  doctrines  which  your  Church  teaches.  Like 
the  ancient  priests  of  Egypt,  you  must  have  one  class 
of  opinions  for  the  people,  and  another  for  j^ourself. 
Will  you  say  that  this  is  harsh  and  uncharitable  ? 
None  knows  better  than  yourself  that  history  affirms 
it  of  popes,  cardinals,  and  bishops  that  have  lived  be- 
fore you.  ]\Ien  far  higher  than  you  in  your  Church 
have  laughed  all  its  doctrines  to  scorn,  and  do  so  at 
this  hour.  They  remain  bishops,  archbishops,  or  car- 
dinals for  the  sake  of  the  loaves  and  fishes.  On  no 
other  ground  can  I  possibly  account  for  your  remain- 
ing an  hour  in  the  Roman  CalhoUc  Church. 

With  respect,  yours,  Kirwan. 


68  IC  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     I-  K  T  T  E  U  S 


Proofs  IVom  the  people.  "Who  go  to  c-onressioii  or  lo  mass  ? 


LETTER   Y. 

Popery  makes  the  Masses  superstitious,  the  intelligent  Infidels. — Who 
go  to  Confession  1 — Ireland. — France. — Other  countries. — Reasons 
why  Popery  debases. — The  Days  of  Popery  numbered. 

My  dear  Sir, — In  my  last  letter,  in  which  I  stated 
to  you  the  process  of  my  mind  in  its  transition  from 
popery  to  infidelity,  I  asserted  that  the  effect  of  your 
religion  is  to  make  the  masses  superstitious,  and  the 
intelligent  infidels,  in  all  the  countries  where  it  pre- 
dominates. Although  the  truth  of  this  assertion  is  self- 
evident  to  the  well-read  mind,  the  briefest  considera- 
tion will  make  its  truth  apparent  to  all. 

How  stands  the  matter  in  our  own  country  ?  Who 
attend  your  confessional  and  your  masses  in  New  York  ? 
How  many  of  the  educated  Irish,  French,  or  Grermans 
ever  whisper  at  your  knees  their  sins,  or  ever  bow  at 
your  altars  to  receive  your  wafers  on  their  tongues,  be- 
lieving them  to  be  "  Jesus  Christ  himself,  true  God  and 
true  man,"  and  believing  that  he  is  "truly,  really,  and 
substantially  present"  in  them  ?  How  many  of  these 
go  to  your  churches  ?  Let  any  body  wishing  to  know 
stand  at  the  door  of  St.  Peter's  or  St.  Patrick's  on  the 
Sabbath,  and  examine  the  nmltitudes  who  attend  these 
places,  and  they  will  soon  learn.  And  even  when  an 
intelligent  person  is  seen  mixing  with  those  who  at- 
tend on  your  masses,  he  goes  merely  through  the  force 
of  habit,  or  to  wait  upon  a  female  relative.     Permit 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  69 

How  in  Ireland  !  How  in  France  ?  No  God. 

me  to  say  that,  with  an  acquaintance  somewhat  ex- 
tended in  our  country,  I  know  not  a  single  layman,  of 
any  repute  for  learning  or  science,  who  believes  in  your 
distinguishing  doctrines.  There  are  some,  I  allow,  of 
high  standing  and  character  who  arc  nominally  Cath- 
olics, but  who,  I  learn,  on  inquiry,  are  but  nominally 
so  ;  and  the  nominally  Catholic  is  really  an  infidel. 

And  how  stands  the  case  as  to  Ireland,  the  land  of 
our  birth,  where  seven  of  her  nine  millions  of  people 
are  Roman  Catholics  ?  AVhile  its  masses  are  with 
your  Church,  is  not  its  mind  in  opposition  to  it  ?  And 
what  has  kept  the  mind  of  Ireland  from  being  infidel 
but  the  fact  that  the  religion  of  the  Bible  stands  out 
there  with  a  greater  or  less  degree  of  prominence  in  op- 
position to  the  religion  of  the  priest  ?  Thank  God  !  the 
Irish  massacre  did  not  exterminate  Protestantism  in 
the  "  fairest  isle  of  the  ocean." 

And  how  stands  the  case  in  France,  where  your 
Church,  Nero-like,  extinguished  the  lights  of  truth, 
and  caused  the  blood  of  the  Huguenots  to  run  like  wa- 
ter? Popery  has  managed  France  in  its  own  way, 
without  any  let  or  hindrance,  and  what  has  been  the 
result?  It  legislated  Grod  out  of  existence,  decreed  re- 
ligion to  be  a  fable,  and  death  to  bo  an  eternal  sleep. 
Knowing  nothing  of  religion  but  what  it  learned 
through  the  unmeaning  rites  of  your  ('hureh,  and  by 
the  carnal  policy  of  your  priests,  it  sought  to  erase  ev- 
ery trace  of  it  from  existence ;  and  although  France- 
has  recovered  from  the  intoxication  of  tjic  maddening 
bowl,  and  has  risen  to  order  from  tlie  wild  chaos  into 
which  popery  ])lnnged  it,  its  mind  is  y(>t  infidel.     Vol- 


70 


K  I  R  \V  A  N    s    i>  i:  T  T  i:  u  s 


Popery  and  the  Uevolution.  Other  countries. 

taii-e  is  the  pope  of  the  mind  of  France,  and  Sue  is  the 
high-priest  of  the  people.  Your  dumb  show  of  impos- 
ing ceremony  is  there  esteemed,  not  as  solemn,  but 
farcical ;  and  upon  your  rites  few  attend  save  the  peas- 
antry and  the  women.  And  the  world  should  hold  the 
papal  Church  accountable  for  all  the  horrors  of  the 
French  Revolution. 

What  is  thus  true  of  France  is  yet  more  true  of  the 
other  papal  countries  of  Europe.  If  the  nobility  of 
Spain,  Portugal,  Austria,  or  Italy  are  less  infidel  than 
in  France,  it  is  because  they  arc  less  educated.  Their 
masses  are  superstitious — their  educated  men,  includ- 
ing many  of  their  clergy,  are  infidels,  and  their  men 
of  fortune  and  spirit  live  without  any  moral  restraint. 
Popery  brings  no  strong  moral  inlluence  to  bear  upon 
the  mind  and  conscience  of  any  people.  In  the  pro- 
portion that  its  influence  is  strong  do  people  and  na- 
tions sink  in  the  intellectual,  social,  and  moral  scale. 

That  you  yourself,  dear  sir,  may  see  this,  sit  down 
and  candidly  compare  Connaught  and  Ulster,  in  Ire- 
land. In  the  one,  popery  almost  exclusively  prevails ; 
in  the  other,  Protestantism  is  in  the  ascendency.  "What 
a  difTcrence  between  them !  Compare  Ireland  and 
Scotland ;  and,  although  the  land  of  St.  Patrick  is  far 
richer  than  that  of  St.  Andrew,  yet  how  heavenwide 
the  difference  between  them  !  Compare  Spain  with 
England,  Italy  with  Prussia,  Rome  with  Edinburgh, 
Belfast  with  Cork :  how  wide  the  difference !  Come 
across  the  Atlantic,  and  continue  the  comparison  on 
our  own  Western  Continent.  Compare  Mexico  to  New 
England,  Brazil  to  these  United  States,  the  city  of 


TO     BISHOP    HUGHES.  71 


Contrasts.  A  general  law.  Abstracts  the  Bilile. 

Mexico  to  that  of  Boston,  or  New  York,  or  Cincinnati  I 
How  great  the  contrast  I  Come  yet  nearer  home : 
compare  the  worshipers  at  St.  Peter's,  in  Barclay  Street, 
with  those  at  St.  Paul's,  in  Broadway  ;  compare  the  at- 
tendants on  your  own  ministry  at  St.  Patrick's  with 
those  who  worship  God  at  the  Brick  Church,  or  at  La 
Fayette  Place,  or  at  University  Place,  or  on  the  Fifth 
Avenue.  How  wide  the  difference  intellectually,  so- 
cially, morally  I  And  why  is  it  that  papal  countries 
and  communities  thus  suffer,  and  so  sadly  suffer,  when 
contrasted  with  other  communities  where  there  is  an 
unshackled  conscience  and  an  open  Bible?  There 
must  he  some  general  law  or  cause  in  operation  to 
produce  results  so  uniform.  AVliat  is  that  law  or  cause  ? 
Sir,  it  is  the  influence  of  that  system  of  religion  which 
you  are  seeking  with  so  much  zeal  and  industry  to  ex- 
tend. The  traveler  in  Europe  need  not  be  told  when 
he  crosses  the  lines  that  .separate  papal  from  Protestant 
states  ;  the  obvious  marks  of  higher  civilization  declare 
the  transition  with  ahnost  as  much  plainness  as  would 
a  broad  river  or  a  chain  of  mountains.  Popery,  with 
infaUiblc  certainty,  degrades  man.  Do  you  ask  how? 
In  this  wise: 

It  takes  from  hiin  the  Bible,  the  revealed  will  of 
God,  witli  ail  its  chsar  light,  with  all  its  high  motives 
to  excite  the  soul  to  high  and  holy  action,  and  without 
which  neither  civilization  nor  religion  can  be  long 
maintained.  Papal  countries  arc  countries  without 
the  Bible.  I  myself  searched  Rome  and  Naples  in 
vain  to  find  one. 

It  witbholds  from  the  people  all  right  moral  instruc- 


72  K  1  R  W  A  n'  S     L  E  T  T  E  R  S 

Withholds  moral  instruction  and  Chrisliaiiity. 

tion ;  it  suppresses  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and 
substitutes  for  it  the  dumb  show  of  the  Mass.  The 
apostles  turned  the  world  upside  down  hy  preaching, 
but  in  papal  countries  there  is  generally  no  preaching. 
I  never  heard  a  sermon  in  a  Catholic  Church  in  Ire- 
land. I  venture  the  assertion  that  there  are  multi- 
tudes of  Catholic  churches  in  Catholic  countries  where 
a  sermon  would  be  as  great  a  rarity  as  would  be  the 
saying  of  mass  in  a  Scottish  kirk  !  And  is  it  not  one 
of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  day  that  the  present  Pope, 
the  pretended  successor  of  that  warm-hearted  preacher, 
Peter,  has  preached  a  sermon,  the  first  preached  by  a 
pope  in  three  hundred  years !  I  Could  Peter  return  to 
Rome,  unless  his  long  absence  from  the  body  has  cool- 
ed his  generous  but  impetuous  spirit,  I  am  afraid  he 
would  treat  his  pretended  successors  as  roughly  as  he 
once  did  Malchus. 

It  withholds  from  the  people  the  benign  influences 
of  Christianity,  the  great  element  in  the  development 
of  civiUzation.  It  withholds  the  Bible,  the  sermon ;  it 
has  instituted  a  worship  which  wants  nothing  of  hea- 
thenism but  the  name.  That  worship  is  performed  in 
a  language  now  unspoken  by  any  living  people.  It 
excludes  all  reading  from  the  people  but  such  as  the 
priest  permits.  Acting  on  the  principle  that  ignorance 
is  the  mother  of  devotion,  it  erects  no  schools  for  the 
instruction  of  the  common  mind ;  it  substitutes  the 
feast-day  for  the  Sabbath,  the  saints  and  the  Virgin 
Mary  for  the  Savior,  confession  and  penances  for  faith 
in  Christ,  and  reverence  for  places,  unmeaning  rites, 
relics,  for  the  fear  of  God.     Sir,  I  say  it  with  deep  sor- 


T  O     B  I  S  H  O  1'     U  U  G  H  E  S.  73 

It  degrades  poor  Ireland.  Its  priests. 


row,  popery  is  not  Christianity.*  It  is  a  fearful  per- 
version of  the  religion  of  God  ;  and  for  the  evidence  of 
these  assertions  I  again  point  you  to  its  influence  upon 
the  people  Avhere  there  is  nothing  to  counteract  it.  It 
has  degraded  the  once  noble  Castilian  until  there  is 
now  none  so  mean  as  to  do  him  reverence  ;  Italy,  once 
the  seat  of  empire,  it  has  reduced  to  feebleness ;  and 
the  once  invincible  Italian,  who  carried  the  eagles  of 
his  country  to  the  extremes  of  the  world,  to  an  ignoble 
slave  ;  and  it  has  rendered  our  noble-hearted,  noble- 
minded,  impulsive  countrymen  the  hewers  of  wood 
and  the  drawers  of  water  in  all  the  countries  to  which 
they  emigrate.  The  degradation  of  Ireland,  which  has 
made  it  a  by- word,  I  charge  upon  popery.  If  the 
priests  of  Ireland  would  give  the  quarter  of  what  they 
receive  for  praying  souls  out  of  Purgatory,  or  all  they 
expend  on  whisky  or  at  the  card-table,  to  the  sustain- 
ing of  common  schools  among  the  people,  there  might 
be  three  or  more  such  schools  sustained  in  every  parish 
in  that  bleeding,  famishing,  yet  noble  country,  and  its 
.sons  would  have  an  opportunity  of  rising  to  that  posi- 
tion If)  which  their  native  wit,  eloquence,  and  genius 
entitle  them. 

These,  sir,  arc,  in  brief,  my  reasons  for  asserting  that 
the  effect  of  your  religion  is  to  make  the  masses  of 
your  people  superstitious.  They  have  no  intelligent 
views  of  God.  They  know  nothing  about  the  ])lan  of 
salvation.  Sacraments  and  ceremonies  exert  an  unde- 
fined, mysterious  influence.     The  priest  exerts  a  ghost- 

•  Sco  my  Letters  to  Chief  Juatirc  Taney  for  the  proof  and  illuRtra- 
tinn  r,f  fhie. 

D 


74  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

A  withering  reply.  Popery  doomed.  AU  things  against  it. 

ly,  fearful  power,  before  which  the  ignorant  believer 
slavishly  crouches,  and  of  which  he  stands  far  more  in 
awe  than  he  does  of  the  Grod  who  has  made  him. 

And  the  very  causes  which  render  the  masses  su- 
perstitious operate  in  an  opposite  direction  upon  the 
intelligent,  and  drive  them  into  infidelity.  They  rea- 
son about  your  doctrines  as  the  Earl  of  Mulgrave  is 
said  to  have  done  with  a  priest  who  was  sent  to  him 
by  James  11.  of  England,  to  convert  him  to  popery. 
"  Sir,"  said  he,  "  I  have  convinced  myself  by  much  re- 
flection that  God  made  man,  but  I  can  not  believe  that 
man  can  make  God."  How  can  you  meet  such  a 
withering  rebuke  ? 

My  dear  sir,  the  days  of  popery  are  numbered.  The 
Bible  is  against  it ;  civilization  is  against  it ;  the  mind 
of  the  world  is  against  it.  Good  people  pray  for  its 
downfall  as  earnestly  as  they  do  for  that  of  Moham- 
medanism. It  may  live  through  centuries  yet  to  come, 
but  it  will  be  as  Judaism  now  lives,  or  as  paganism 
lived  in  many  dark  corners  of  the  Roman  world  long 
after  its  conversion  to  the  Christian  faith.  But  my 
own  fear  is  that  the  papal  world,  both  as  to  its  mind 
and  its  masses,  will  become  suddenly  infidel,  as  in 
France,  and  then  pour  down  its  legions  upon  the  Church 
of  God,  to  blot  it  out  of  existence.  The  Romish  Church 
is  one  of  the  "  gates  of  hell"  which  has  poured  forth 
armies  of  the  aliens  in  opposition  to  the  Church  of 
Christ,  but  it  has  never,  nor  will  it  ever,  prevail  against 
it.  With  respect,  yours,  Kirwan. 


TOBISHOP     HUGHES.  75 

Cbaxge  renewed.  Ireland  degraded.  Evidence. 


LETTER   VI. 

Popery  has  degraded  Ireland. — Evidences  of  its  Degradation. — Ab- 
senteeism.— Sub-letting. — Tithes. — The  Priest's  cry  for  Money. 

My  dear  Sir, — In  my  last  letter,  in  which  I  sought 
to  illustrate  that  the  influence  of  popery  is  to  make  the 
masses  superstitious  and  the  intelligent  infidels  in  all 
the  countries  where  it  predominates,  I  made  the  fol- 
lowinsr  assertion  :  "  It  has  rendered  our  noble-hearted, 
noble-minded,  impulsive  countrymen  the  hewers  of 
wood  and  the  drawers  of  water  in  all  the  countries  to 
which  they  emigrate.  The  degradation  of  Ireland, 
which  has  made  it  a  by- word,  I  charge  upon  popery." 
To  some  of  the  evidences  of  the  truth  of  these  asser- 
tions I  wish  to  call  your  attention  in  the  present  letter. 
Perhaps  the  present  .state  of  feeling  in  our  country  to- 
ward famine-stricken  Ireland  may  secure  for  what  1 
shall  say  to  you  some  attention.* 

That  Ireland  is  a  degraded  country  as  to  its  masses, 
with  all  our  pride  of  country,  neither  you  iKir  1  can 
deny.  Its  general  poverty,  its  pervading  ignorance,  its 
mud  hovels,  its  innumerable  beggars,  its  insubordina- 
tion, are  the  sad  and  tangible  proofs  of  its  degradation. 
They  lie  upon  the  surface  of  the  country,  where  every 
traveler  can  heboid  them;  and  the  untraveled  Ameri- 
can has  the  fvidenecs  of  this  degradation  Ijrought  to 

'  Tlir.ir  jpttprs  wrrr  written  diirin<^  tlie  famine  wiiicii  raged  in  Ire- 
land during  the  years  1817-8 


76  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

AhseiUcuisni.  Its  cause.  Sub-lL'tliiif;. 

his  own  door.  He  sees  it  in  the  perfect  ignorance  of 
his  Irish  servant — in  the  squahd  appearance  of  the 
Irish  beggar  —  in  the  deep-rooted  superstition  of  the 
Irish  papist — in  the  Irish  brawls  in  low  tippling-houses 
— in  the  furious  passions  of  an  Irish  mob — in  the  large 
proportion  of  Irish  convicts  in  our  prisons,  and  of  vi- 
cious Irish  in  our  places  of  moral  reform.  It  is,  my 
dear  sir,  with  feelings  of  regret  and  shame  that  I  make 
this  statement.  My  love  of  country  has  never  forsaken 
me  for  an  hour.  With  all  its  faults,  I  love  Ireland 
still ;  and  in  the  lowest  depths  of  their  degradation,  its 
children  manifest  a  sensibility  and  a  nobility  that 
would  honor  those  in  the  highest  ranks  of  civilization, 
and  that  evince  what  they  would  be  under  a  right  de- 
velopment of  their  social  and  moral  nature.  Wliat  are 
the  causes  of  this  degradation  ? 

I  will  not,  I  can  not  omit  from  the  list  of  causes 
what  is  technically  called  absenteeism  :  the  lordly  pro- 
prietors of  the  land  living  in  foreign  countries,  and  ex- 
pending abroad  the  hard  earnings  of  their  tenants  at 
home.  This  is  one  of  the  grievous  curses  of  Ireland  ; 
but  even  for  this  papists  are  to  blame,  whose  frequent 
murders  of  landed  proprietors  induce  them  to  seek 
safety  in  foreign  countries. 

Nor  can  I  omit  the  system  of  letting  and  sub-letting, 
or  renting  and  sub-renting  of  the  land,  by  the  richer  to 
the  less  rich,  until  between  the  owner  and  the  actual 
cultivator  there  may  be  six  or  more  landlords,  each 
living  upon  those  below  him,  and  the  actual  tillers  of 
the  land  supporting  them  all !  This  is  infusing  into 
the  curse  of  absenteeism  an  ingredient  which  multi- 


TO     BISHOP     H  U  G  H  K  S.  77 

Tithes.  Their  abuse.  Should  be  reformed. 

plies  its  bitterness  by  ten.     It  gives  rise  to  a  class  of 
landlords  as  unpitying  as  famine. 

Nor  can  I  omit  the  system  of  tithes  for  the  support 
of  the  Established  Church  of  Ireland.  An  Episcopal 
priest  is  placed  in  every  parish  in  Ireland,  and  if  he 
has  not  one  single  parishioner  to  wait  on  his  ministra- 
tions, he  is  yet  entitled  to  his  tithes  from  the  parish ; 
and  these  tithes  are  drawn  from  the  actual  cultivators 
of  the  soil,  the  poor  tenants  ;  and  these  tithes  are  usu- 
ally let  and  sub-let,  as  is  the  land,  and  their  collection 
generally  falls  into  the  hands  of  men  as  rapacious  as 
vultures.  Yes,  and  the  parson  for  whose  support  these 
tithes  are  paid  may  be  a  thoroughly  worthless  man, 
and  may  never  have  made  the  impress  of  his  foot  upon 
the  soil  of  his  parish  !  Yes,  and  when  the  tither  calls 
upon  the  poor  man  to  pay  his  tithes  for  the  support  of 
a  minister  he  has  never  seen,  and  for  the  maintenance 
of  a  reUgion  which  his  soul  abhors,  unless  he  is  ready 
to  pay,  his  only  cow,  more  than  one  half  the  support  of 
his  family,  is  driven  to  the  market,  and  there  sold  for 
half  her  value  I  and  if  that  does  not  pay,  his  pig  is  driven 
and  sold  in  the  same  way !  Such  is  the  system  of  tithes 
in  Ireland  I  [  have  no  language,  my  dear  sir,  in  which 
to  express  my  abhorrence  of  it.  The  support  of  such 
a  system,  in  the  way  it  is  there  enforced,  is  a  disgrace 
to  the  Protestant  name  ;  it  is  a  deep,  dark,  direful  stain 
upon  the  c(|uity  of  British  legislation ;  it  is  a  public 
protest  Ijcfore  heaven  and  earth  against  tli<*.  Church 
that  sanctions  it,  and  against  the  craven-hearted,  earth- 
ly-minded clergy  that  can  submit  to  be  thus  supported! 
I  speak  as  an  American  I     ()iit  nf  your  own  Church, 


78  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     L  E  T  T  E  R  S 

A  nuisance.  Talleyrand.  Why  absenteeism  ? 

sir,  I  know  of  no  ecclesiastical  nuisance  so  utterly  of- 
fensive as  that  of  the  Established  Church  of  Ireland  ! 
And  yet  the  very  upholders  of  these  schemes  of  rob- 
bery— yes,  and  some  of  the  very  individuals  that  pock- 
et the  plunder  thus  legally  and  ecclesiastically  filched 
from  the  poor  people,  write  to  us  about  public  faith  and 
honesty,  and  lecture  us  upon  the  subject  of  slavery  as 
if  they  were  spotless  as  G-abriel !  Of  all  this  I  can  say, 
as  Talleyrand  is  reported  to  have  said  of  a  lady  that 
frequently  annoyed  him  :  "  Madam,"  said  he,  "  you 
have  but  one  fault."  "  Pray,  sir,"  said  she,  "  what  is 
it  ?"  "  It  is,"  said  he,  "  that  you  are  perfectly  insuf- 
ferable." Nor  have  I  seen,  among  the  various  plans 
suggested  by  the  crown  for  the  relief  of  Ireland,  a  hint 
at  the  abolition  of  this  nefarious  system  of  tithes  as  it 
bears  upon  the  poor  people  who  till  the  soil. 

Bad,  my  dear  sir,  as  I  think  of  these  causes,  and 
much  as  they  have  contributed  to  the  degradation  and 
impoverishing  of  Ireland,  they  are  but  as  the  dust  of 
the  balance  when  compared  with  the  influences  of 
popery  ;  and  that  yourself  may  see  this,  hear  me  to  the 
close  calmly  and  without  prejudice. 

Why  this  absenteeism,  of  which  we  so  bitterly  and 
justly  complain  ?  I  am  not  about  to  excuse  it ;  but 
one  of  its  reasons  is  the  opposition  of  the  priest  to  the 
efforts  of  the  land  proprietor  to  elevate  his  tenantry, 
and  the  fierce  jealousies  which  the  priest  excites  in  the 
minds  of  the  people.  There  is  but  little  absenteeism 
in  Scotland :  why  is  it  so  general  in  Ireland  ?  The 
cause  we  find  in  the  difference  of  the  religion  of  the 
two  people.     If  the  parish  priest  of  Ireland  was  like 


TOBISHOPHUGHES.  79 

Nothing  to  educate.  Ignorance.  The  true  cause. 

the  parish  minister  of  Scotland,  the  Marquis  of  Sligo 
and  the  Earl  of  Westmeath  would  have  as  pleasant  a 
home  upon  their  estates  as  the  Duke  of  Buccleugh  or 
the  Marquis  of  Breadalbane. 

Popery  does  nothing  for  the  education  of  the  people 
of  Ireland.  "With  the  wealth  of  the  middling  classes 
under  its  control,  and  almost  at  its  heck,  where  are  its 
schools  and  its  colleges  for  the  education  of  its  people  ? 
You  send  to  Ireland  for  money  to  establish  them  here  : 
why  erect  none  there  ?  Connaught,  where  your  Church 
has  complete  control,  is  an  almost  unbroken  mass  of 
ignorance  ;  and  Munster  is  precisely  like  it ;  and  these 
are  the  portions  uf  il  where  the  famine  is  now  raging. 
Ignorance  brutalizes,  and  sensualizes,  and  renders  men 
improvident.  It  places  our  higher  in  subjection  to  our 
lower  nature ;  and  in  withholding  education  from  the 
people,  popery  has  degraded  Ireland ;  and  wherever  its 
children  are  carried  by  the  tide  of  emigration,  their 
want  of  education  places  them  in  the  lowest  grade  of 
society,  and  they  are  more  dreaded  as  a  burden  than 
hailed  as  an  accession.  Without  the  high  aspirations 
which  knowledge  imparts,  and  without  the  self-respect 
which  it  creates,  they  arc  satisfied  with  being  menials 
where  they  might  be  masters,  to  bo  carriers  of  mortar 
where  they  might  be  chi(!f  builders  on  the  wall.  If 
the  ignorance  of  Ireland  has  any  thing  to  do  with  the 
degradation  of  Ireland,  I  charge  that  ignorance  2(pon 
popery.     Prove  it  fal.sc  if  you  can. 

And  if  absenteeism,  and  sub-letting,  and  the  tithe 
system  do  much  to  impoverish  the  people,  popery  does 
yet  more.  It  meets  them  at  the  cradle,  and  dogs  them 
to  the  grave,  and  beyond  it,  with  its  demands  for  mon- 


80  K  I  U  W  A  N  ■  S     LETTERS 

Money  I  money  I  The  liorse-leech  process. 

ey.  "When  tho  child  is  baptized,  the  priest  must  have 
money  ;  when  the  mother  is  churched,  the  priest  must 
have  money ;  when  the  hoy  is  confirmed,  the  bishop 
must  have  money ;  when  he  goes  to  confession,  the 
priest  must  have  money ;  when  he  partakes  of  the  Eu- 
charist, the  priest  must  have  money  ;  when  visited  in 
sickness,  the  priest  must  have  money.  If  he  wants  a 
charm  against  sickness  or  the  witches,  he  must  pay 
for  it  money.  When  he  is  buried,  his  friends  must  pay 
money.  After  mass  is  said  over  his  remains,  a  plate 
is  placed  on  the  coffin,  and  the  people  collected  togeth- 
er on  the  occasion  are  expected  to  deposit  their  contri- 
bution on  the  plate.  Thus  pounds  are  collected  for 
burying  the  poorest  of  the  people.  Then  the  priest 
pockets  the  money,  and  the  people  take  the  body  to  the 
grave ;  and  then,  however  good  the  person,  his  soul 
must  go  to  Purgatory ;  and  however  bad,  his  soul  may 
have  stopped  there.  And  then  comes  the  money  for 
prayers  and  masses  for  deliverance  from  Purgatory, 
which  prayers  and  masses  are  continued  as  long  as  the 
money  continues  to  be  paid.  Masses  are  yet  said  for 
people  who  died  hundreds  of  years  ago.  Now,  when 
we  remember  that  seven  out  of  the  nine  millions  of 
the  people  of  Ireland  are  papists,  and  of  the  most  big- 
oted stamp,  and  that  this  horse-leech  process  of  collect- 
ing money,  whose  ceaseless  cry  is  "  give,  give^''  is  in 
operation  in  every  parish,  and  that,  as  far  as  possible, 
every  individual  is  subjected  to  it,  can  we  wonder  at 
the  poverty  and  the  degradation  of  Ireland  ?  Can  we 
wonder  that  its  noble-hearted,  noble-minded  people  are 
every  where  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  ? 
8hame,  shame  upon  yovir  Church,  that  it  treats  a  peo- 


TO     BISHOP     HUGH?:  S.  81 

Sbame  I  shame !  Terrible  protest.  A  type. 

pie  SO  confiding  and  faithful  so  basely !  Shame,  shame 
upon  it,  that  it  does  so  little  to  elevate  a  people  that 
contribute  so  freely  to  its  support  I  0  popery,  thou 
hast  debased  my  country — thou  hast  impoverished  its 
people — thou  hast  enslaved  its  mind  I  From  the  hod- 
man on  the  ladder — from  the  digger  of  the  canal — 
from  the  hostler  in  the  stable — from  the  unlettered  cook 
in  the  kitchen  and  maid  in  the  parlor — from  the  rioter 
in  the  street — from  the  culprit  at  the  bar — from  the 
state  prisoner  in  his  lonely  dungeon — from  the  victim 
of  a  righteous  law  stepping  into  eternity  from  the  gal- 
lows for  a  murder  committed  under  the  delirium  of 
passion  or  whisky,  I  hear  a  protest  against  thee  as  the 
great  cause  of  the  deep  degradation  of  as  noble  a  peo- 
ple as  any  upon  which  the  sun  shines  in  the  circuit  of 
its  glorious  way  I 

My  dear  sir,  your  religion  is  for  the  benefit  of  the 
priest,  and  not  that  of  the  people.  It  will  starve  the 
people  to  fatten  the  priest.  Its  object  is  not  to  spread 
light,  but  darkness  ;  not  to  advance  civilization,  but  to 
retard  it ;  not  to  elevate,  but  to  depress  man,  that  he 
may  the  more  readily  be  brought  under  your  iiiflu- 
encc  ;  and  we  have  in  Ireland  a  type  of  what  our  haj)- 
py  lanil  will  be  when  the  priest  wields  the  power  hero 
which  he  wields  there. 

I  own,  dear  sir,  that  I  have  digressed  a  little  from 
my  original  object  in  these  letters.  But  in  my  next  I 
.shall  commence  with  the  reasons  which,  on  the  most 
mature  reflection,  yet  prevent  inc  from  rcturniiiLr  tf> 
the  pale  of  your  Church. 

With  respect,  your.*',  Kuiw.xn. 

D  2 


82  K  1  R  AV  A  N  '  S     L  E  T  T  E  R  S 

Who  need  detail.  The  cjuestion.  The  Bible. 


LETTER   VIL 

Reasons  for  not  returning  to  the  Papal  Church. — Prohibition  of  the 
Scriptures. — The  Way  and  Manner  of  Papal  Worship  — Ceremonial 
Law  of  Popery. — Obstructions  raised  between  God  and  the  Soul. 

My  dear  Sir, — Agreeably  to  the  promise  made  to 
you  in  my  last  letter,  I  now  commence  a  statement  of 
the  reasons  which,  on  the  most  mature  reflection,  yet 
prevent  me  from  returning  to  the  pale  of  your  Church. 
I  wish  to  avoid  prolixity  of  statement  and  minuteness 
of  detail,  as  I  feel  that  I  am  addressing  one  who  can 
see  the  point  and  weigh  the  force  of  an  argument  with- 
out either.     Detail  is  only  needed  by  the  stupid. 

Wlien,  in  the  kind  providence  of  God,  my  mind  be- 
came interested  to  know  wdiat  God  would  have  me  to 
do,  I  cast  around  for  a  true  guide  to  the  solution  of  the 
question.  Where  could  I  find  such  a  one  ?  Books  are 
written  by  fallible  men ;  priests  had  already  imposed 
on  my  understanding ;  fond  parents,  deceived  them- 
selves, taught  me  superstition  for  religion  ;  all  men 
are  liable  to  err.  I  felt  there  was  a  God,  and  that  I 
was  bound  to  obey  him ;  but  where  is  the  rule  of  my 
obedience  ?  This  was  the  question.  I  was  told  of  the 
Bible,  but  of  that  I  knew  nothing ;  and  then  I  knew 
the  Bible  to  be  by  your  Church  a  prohibited  book,  or 
to  be  read  only  by  priestly  permission.  I  sought  the 
Bible,  and  read  it.  I  found  it  to  be  the  true  and  only 
guide  to  the  right  solution  of  the  question  as  to  what 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES. 


83 


Confession  of  sm.  The  Bible.  Why  prohibited. 


God  would  have  me  to  do ;  and,  without  the  fear  of 
the  Pope,  or  of  the  anathemas  of  the  Council  of  Trent, 
and  without  a  Une  of  hcense  from  prelate  or  priest,  I 
have  continued  to  read  it  for  years.  If  this  is  mortal 
sin,  I  am  daily  living  in  its  commission.  Thus  far  I 
will  confess  to  you.  And  the  virtual  prohihition  of  the 
unfettered  reading  of  the  Bible  by  your  Church  is  one 
of  the  main  reasons  why  I  can  not  return  to  it.  That 
your  restrictions  amount  to  a  virtual  prohibition,  your 
candor  will  not  for  a  moment  deny. 

And  let  me  ask  you,  dear  sir,  why  this  virtual  pro- 
hibition ?  Who  has  given  you  authority  to  say  that  1 
nmst  not  read  what  God  has  given  to  direct  me  into 
all  the  ways  of  faith  and  obedience?  God  has  com- 
manded me  to  "  search  the  Scriptures  :*'  who  has  g-iveu 
you  authorHy  to  forbid  me  ?  What  right  have  you 
to  forbid  me  more  than  I  have  to  forbid  you  ?  Produce 
your  credentials  I  Where  does  God  place  his  revealed 
will  in  the  keeping  of  Pope,  prelate,  or  priest,  to  be 
doled  out  to  his  erring  children  in  such  ways  and  par- 
cels as  they  may  deem  best  ?  Ho  has  no  more  placed 
the  Bible  under  your  control,  or  that  of  your  Church, 
than  he  has  the  sun  in  heaven,  or  lho  vital  air,  or  the 
gushing  fountains  of  pure  water.  Nor  can  I  conceive 
of  any  principle  that  can  po.ssil)ly  induce  you  to  with- 
hold it  from  the  people,  without  gloss  or  comment,  save 
one:  "Every  one;  that  doeth  evil  hatclh  the  light, 
neither  comoth  to  li^ht,  lest  his  deeds  should  be  re- 
proved." It  is  said  that  Herod,  when  convinced  that 
he  was  not  of  the  royal  line  of  the  Jews,  burned  their 
genealogies  and  records,  that  his  false  pretenses  might 


84  IC  1  R  W  A  N  '  S      I,  K  T  'J'  K  R  S 


Herod's  conduct.  Public  worsliip.  At  mass. 

not  "be  confuted  by  them.  Is  it  for  a  similar  reason 
that  yonr  Church  withholds  the  Bible  from  the  people  ? 
The  Bible  lays  the  axe  at  the  root  of  the  upas-tree  of 
]iopery  :  is  this  the  reason  why  it  is  withheld  ?  If  you 
reply  to  these  letters,  will  you  tell  us  plainly  why  it  is 
withheld  ? 

Another  of  the  reasons  which  prevent  me  from  re- 
turning to  your  Church  is  the  way  and  the  manner  of 
your  public  worship  of  God.  On  reading  the  New 
Testament,  I  find  that  Jesus  Christ  embraced  every 
opportunity  of  declaring  the  will  of  God.  After  his 
ascension  and  the  descent  of  the  Spirit,  the  apostles 
went  every  where  preaching  the  Gospel  of  the  king- 
dom. The  worship  of  God,  as  taught  us  in  the  New 
Testament,  consists  in  prayer,  praise,  and  the  preach- 
ing of  his  word  for  the  instruction  and  edification  of 
the  people.  To  the  instruction  and  edification  of  the 
saints  every  thing  in  the  Church  of  Christ  is  made 
subservient.  Is  it  so  in  the  Church  of  Rome  ?  Do 
your  masses  convey  any  instruction  to  the  common  or 
the  uncommon  mind  ?  Do  they  ever  give — have  they 
ever  given  one  true  idea  of  God  or  of  religion  to  a  hu- 
man soul  ?  If  so,  I  should  like  to  know  it.  May  not 
individuals  attend  upon  them  from  youth  to  gray  hairs, 
and  yet  know  not  the  first  principles  of  the  doctrines 
of  Christ  ?  I  have  attended  recently,  sir,  a  High  Mass 
at  one  of  your  cathedrals.  It  was  on  the  last  Christ- 
mas day,  and  in  the  Cathedral  at  Baltimore.  I  bore 
the  unmeaning  pageant  for  three  mortal  hours  togeth- 
er. There  was  the  archbishop  in  his  robes,  with  his 
cap,  his  crook,  and  his  crosier ;  there  were  priests  in 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  85 

A  pantomime.  A  question.  Stones  for  Lread. 

numbers,  moving  about,  making  their  crosses,  obei- 
sances, and  genuflexions.  AVhen  the  bishop  rose,  the 
crook  and  crosier  moved  before  him,  and  the  priests,  as 
waiters,  went  behind  him ;  the  book  was  shifted  from 
side  to  side,  and  was  read  and  chanted  in  ways  that 
no  mortal  hearer  could  comprehend.  There  was  the 
raising  of  the  Host,  and  the  bowing  down  of  the  peo- 
ple— the  incense,  and  all  the  other  usual  accompani- 
ments of  such  a  service ;  and  it  struck  me  as  one  of 
the  most  farcical  pantomimes  that  I  ever  witnessed. 
Forgive  this  honest  statement,  if  it  is  within  your  pow- 
er of  absolution.  I  left  the  house  without  receiving  a 
sohtary  religious  suggestion,  and  puzzled  and  confound- 
ed for  a  solution  to  the  question  how  intelligent  men 
could  po.ssibly  .submit  to  act  such  a  farce,  and  to  pas.s 
it  oft'  upon  a  crowd  of  poor-looking  people  for  the  sol- 
emn worship  of  Grod.  And  if  your  Mass,  when  thus 
performed  with  all  the  splendor  and  pomp  of  your  rit- 
ual, is  thus  unmeaning,  how  insipid  must  it  be  when 
performed  in  your  country  chapels  by  ignorant  priests, 
who  hunt  up  the  sheep  only  to  shear  off  their  wool ! 
God,  my  dear  sir.  Is  an  intelligent  God  ;  he  has  given 
mo  intelligence  with  which  to  worship  him.  1m»i-  Ihc 
intelligence  within  me,  cither  as  to  its  increase  or  ex- 
ercise, your  Church  makes  no  provision  in  its  imblic 
worship.  1  must  not,  then,  return  to  your  Church, 
and  .seek  to  have  my  soul,  made  for  the  inhabitation 
of  the  Spirit,  satisfied  with  the  niunimery  of  your  mut- 
tered mas.ses  in  the  j)ublif'.  worship  of  my  God.  My 
soul  craves  bread,  and  you  give  it  stones. 

Another  of  the  reasons  which  prevent  me  from  re- 


86  K  I  K  W  A  i\  ■  S     L  E  T  l  E  U  S 

Crushing  conscience  Almanac.  Whence  your  power. 

turning  to  your  Church  is  the  burdens  which  it  places 
en  my  conscience,  which  crush  without  correcting  it. 
It  institutes  a  kind  of  a  ceremonial  law,  which  restricts 
where  God  has  given  liberty,  and  which  licenses  where 
God  has  prohibited  indulgence.  With  your  fast  and 
feast  days,  who  can  keep  up  without  an  almanac  in 
his  hands  ?  and  how  many  of  your  people  can  read  it  ? 
Should  I  blunder  in  counting  the  days  of  the  week, 
and,  mistaking  Friday  for  Thursday,  eat  meat,  my 
conscience  is  wounded.  If,  in  performing  penance,  I 
miscount  my  beads,  and  say  a  less  number  of  pater- 
nosters than  required,  my  conscience  again  suffers.  If, 
ignorant  of  the  "  Laws  of  Lent,"  which  have  been  just 
published  by  you,  I  should  eat  three  meals  on  a  day 
between  "  Ash  Wednesday  and  Easter  Sunday,"  or 
should  eat  meat  on  the  "  Thursday  next  after  Ash 
Wednesday,"  or  on  "  any  day  in  the  Holy  Week,"  my 
conscience  would  be  again  burdened.  And  these  are 
but  specimens  of  the  thousand  and  one  ceremonial  reg- 
ulations of  your  Church,  as  burdensome  as  they  are 
unmeaning,  which  fret  and  crush  the  conscience  with- 
out directing  or  strengthening  it ;  and  while  thus  re- 
stricted in  things  indifferent,  I  am  freely  indulged  in 
things  which  the  divine  law  prohibits. 

Now,  sir,  who  has  given  you  authority  to  make  laws 
where  God  has  made  none  ?  Where  is  the  law  in  the 
statute-book  for  your  Lents,  your  feast-days,  your  fast- 
days,  your  Easter  days?  Why  fast  or  feast  at  one 
time  more  than  another  ?  Who  has  given  you  author- 
ity to  say  what  I  shall  eat,  or  how  often,  in  any  one 
day  of  the  year?     What  unutterable  arrogance  to  tell 


T  O     B  I  S  H  O  P     II  U  G  H  E  S.  87 

Anogance.  Mint,  anise.  Be  a  man. 

me  I  can  not  eat  fish  and  flesh  at  the  same  meal ;  what 
priestly  intolerance  to  tell  me,  with  my  Bible  open  be- 
fore me,  that  if  I  transgress  these  laws  I  sin  against 
my  God  I  You  know  that  the  Gospel  is  a  law  of  lib- 
erty ;  you  know  that  if  a  man  eat  meat  he  is  not  the 
worse,  and  that  if  he  refrain  he  is  not  the  better ;  you 
know  that  the  Bible  teaches  that  man  is  defiled,  not  by 
that  which  entereth  into  him,  but  by  that  which  Com- 
eth out  of  him  ;  and  why  burden  souls  and  fetter  con- 
sciences by  silly  enactments  about  things  in  themselves 
indifferent,  and  about  which  God  has  made  no  rej?u- 
lations  ?  Oh,  sir,  like  the  Scribes  and  the  Pharisees  of 
old,  you  are  busied  about  the  mint,  the  anise,  and  the 
cumin,  forgetful  of  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law  ; 
and  I  deeply  regret  that  a  man  who  has  forced  him- 
self up  to  station  and  influence  again.st  so  many  ad- 
verse circumstances,  had  not  force  enough  to  break  the 
chains  of  early  religious  prejudice,  to  rise  up  to  the  re- 
gion of  intellectual,  and  moral,  and  religious  freedom  ! 
You  arc  too  much  of  a  man  to  stoop  to  such  nonsense. 
I  would  leave  such  things  to  those  who  know  no  bet- 
ter. Even  at  the  risk  of  your  mitre  and  princely  in- 
come, you  should  give  such  chall'  to  the  winds  of 
heaven. 

On  these  .subjects,  dear  sir,  your  Church  must  return 
to  the  standard  of  the  Bible  and  of  common  sense  be- 
fore I  can  return  to  it. 

Another  of  the  reasons  which  prevent  my  return  is 
the  obstructions  which  your  Church  raises  between  mc 
and  my  God.  ]\Iy  J'ibln — that  hated  book  by  Pope, 
prelate,  priest,  and  papal  peasant — teaches  me  that  if 


88 


K  1  K  \V  A  N  '  S     L  K  T  T  E  R  S 


A  lYce  privilege  Roundabout.  If  I  pay. 

any  man  sin,  he  has  an  advocate  with  the  Father,  Je- 
sus Christ.  It  every  where  teaches  me  that  I  may 
have  free  access  to  God  through  Jesus  Christ ;  that  if 
I  sin,  I  may  go  for  pardon  directly  to  the  throne  of 
God,  tlirough  the  mediation  of  his  Son ;  and  this  is  a 
precious  privilege — a  privilege  which  may  be  enjoyed 
by  all,  '•'•without  money  and  without  priceP  Now, 
what  do  you  ask  of  me  to  do  in  order  to  receive  the 
forgiveness  of  sin,  and  to  be  restored  to  the  favor  of 
God  ?  You  send  me  to  Peter  or  Paul,  or  some  other 
saint  on  the  catalogue,  who  may  have  never  known 
me,  and  who  may  never  hear  me  if  I  pray  unto  them  ; 
or  you  send  me  to  Mary,  whom  you  blasphemously 
call  the  Mother  of  God,  to  ask  her  to  intercede  for  me. 
Nor  will  this  suffice.  I  must  go  to  your  confessional, 
and  tell  you  all  my  sins,  incurring  the  fearful  penalty 
of  refusal  of  pardon  if  I  withhold  one.  Thus  you  take 
from  me  the  privilege  of  going  to  God  for  myself — a 
privilege  purchased  for  me  by  the  death  of  Christ. 
You  tell  me  I  must  go  to  the  priest,  and  from  the  priest 
to  the  saint  or  to  the  Virgin,  and  the  saint  or  Virgin 
will  go  for  me  to  the  Savior,  and  he  will  go  for  me  to 
the  Father  I  and  then,  when  pardon  is  granted,  it  goes 
from  the  Father  to  the  Son,  from  him  to  the  saint  or 
A^irgin,  from  him  or  her  to  the  priest ;  and  when  in  the 
hands  of  the  priest,  he  will  give  me  absolution — if 
I  pay  for  it  I  Will  you  say,  dare  you  say  that  this 
is  a  caricature  of  your  teachings  upon  this  matter  ? 
"Would  to  God  you  could  with  truth  I  Why  send  me 
to  the  saints,  to  a.sk  them  to  intercede  for  me,  if  this  is 
untrue  ?     That  I  am  a  sinner,  1  know  and  feel  ;  that 


TOBISHOPHUGHES.  89 

Precious  doctrine.  Proxy.  Toll-gates. 

there  is  pardon  for  me  through  the  atonement  of  Jesus 
Christ,  on  my  repentance  and  faith,  is  a  precious  doc- 
trine of  the  Bible  and  of  my  creed.  That  pardon  I  re- 
ceive the  moment  I  sincerely  exercise  the  graces  of  re- 
pentance and  faith — yes,  and  not  a  whit  the  less  freely 
if  all  of  you,  Pope,  patriarchs,  prelates,  and  priests, 
were  with  Pharaoh  and  his  chariots. 

And  why  turn  me  away  from  the  door  of  mercy,  and 
compel  me  to  speak  to  my  heavenly  Father  by  proxy  ? 
Why  call  me  away  from  the  cross,  and  send  me  to  a 
priest,  or  a  saint,  or  a  virgin,  to  ask  them  to  do  for  me 
what  I  can  better  do  for  myself  ?  Where  has  my  Sav- 
ior taught  me  that  I  can  only  address  him  through  a 
priestly  attorney,  that  I  must  fee,  however  poor,  for  his 
services?  Oh,  ask  me  to  do  any  thing — to  bail  the 
ocean,  to  tame  the  hurricane,  to  arrest  the  sun,  rather 
than  ask  me  to  return  to  your  Church  mitil  every 
thing  is  removed  which  forbids  the  free  access  of  my 
soul  to  my  God — which  suspends  my  salvation  on  any 
thing  else  than  repentance  toward  God,  and  faith  in 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  You  must  pull  down  your 
toll-gates  on  the  way  of  life  before  you  see  me  back. 

The  statement  of  a  few  additional  reasons  I  hope  to 
give  yoti  in  my  next. 

With  respect,  yours,  KiinvAN 


90  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     L  E  T  r  E  R  S 

Supererogation.  Commandments  of  men. 


LETTER   VIII. 

Farther  Reasons  for  not  returning  to  the  Papal  Church. — CeUbacy  of 
the  Clergy. — Auricular  Confessions. — A  call  on  Irish  Papists  to  as- 
sert their  Rights. 

My  dear  Sir, — In  my  last  letter  I  entered  on  the 
statement  of  the  reasons  which  yet  prevent  me  from 
returning  to  the  pale  of  your  Church.  I  adverted  only 
to  four  :  your  virtual  prohibition  of  the  Bible ;  the  way 
and  manner  of  your  public  worship  of  Grod ;  your  cere- 
monial law,  which  burdens  and  crushes  without  in- 
structing or  correcting  the  conscience,  and  the  obstruc- 
tions which  you  erect  between  my  soul  and  my  Grod. 
These,  or  either  of  them,  would  be  reason  sufficient, 
not  merely  to  excuse,  but  to  forbid  my  ever  returning 
to  your  communion.  For  me  to  give  farther  reasons 
would  seem  to  be  a  little  like  your  doctrine  of  superer- 
ogation, which  is  not  among  the  least  of  the  absurd  er- 
rors of  your  infallible  Church ;  but  as  the  argument  is 
conclusive,  you  will  bear  with  me  while  I  proceed  to 
the  statement  of  a  few  others. 

I  can  not  return  to  your  Church  until  you  cease 
teaching  for  doctrines  the  commandments  of  men.  Per- 
mit me  here  to  say,  dear  sir,  that,  without  a  solitary 
exception,  the  things  which  are  peculiar  to  your  Church 
— the  things  which  make  it  distinctively  what  it  is, 
are  the  commandments  of  men,  either  in  direct  opposi- 
tion to  the  teachings  of  the  Bible,  or  based  upon  the 


TO     BISHOP     n  UGHE  S.  91 

Clerical  celibacy.  Peter  married.  Why  not  Pius  IX. 

most  gross  perversion  of  its  meaning.  In  as  brief  a 
manner  as  possible,  permit  me  to  illustrate  this  position. 

lour  Church  teaches  and  enjoins  the  celibacy  of  its 
clergy  in  language  the  most  pointed  and  positive,  and 
the  Council  of  Trent  hurls  its  anathemas  asrainst  all 
who  would  assert  the  contrary  doctrine,  or  who  would 
admit  the  lawfulness  of  the  marriage  of  a  priest.  Thus 
you  forbid  the  priest  to  marry ;  you  damn  him  if  he 
does  marry,  and  you  anathematize  all  who  think  or 
say  that  in  marrying  he  sinned  not  against  God  or 
man.  All  this,  you  admit,  is  so.  Now,  then,  I  ask 
your  authority  for  so  teaching.  I  ask,  not  your  ecclcr 
siastical,  but  your  scriptural  authority.  Did  not  the 
Jewish  priests  marry  ?  Was  not  Peter  your  first  Pope  ? 
This  you  assert.  And  was  not  Peter's  wife's  mother 
sick  of  a  fever  ? — Matt.,  viii.,  14.  Pope  Peter,  then,  had 
a  wife.  Why  would  it  be  a  mortal  sin  in  Pope  Pius 
IX.  to  have  one  also  ?  Would  he  be  the  less  pious  or 
moral  on  that  account  ?  You,  sir,  arc  a  bishop.  How 
far  you  are  a  scriptural  bishop  is  not  now  the  inquiry. 
But  Paul,  in  writing  to  Timothy,  says,  "  A  bishop  must 
be  the  husband  of  one  wife  ....  having  his  children 
in  subjection  with  all  gravity."  And  even  poor  "dea- 
con.s,"  the  lowest  order  of  ytjiir  mini.stry,  are  thus  in- 
structed by  Pan! :  "  Let  the  deacons  bo  the  husbands 
of  one  wife,  ruling  their  children  and  their  own  houses 
well."— I  Tim.,  iii.,  12. 

Now,  dear  .sir,  put  these  things  togcih(!r,  and  see  in 
what  a  position  they  place  you !  Peter,  your  first  Pope, 
had  a  wife,  and  you  damn  to  the  dc^pths  of  perdition 
any  pope  that  would,  in  this  respect,  follow  Pope  Peter  I 


92  K  1  R  W  A  N  '  S     L  E  T  T  E  U  S 


How  found  out  ?  An  inference.  Confession. 

Challoncr  says  that  he  had  no  commerce  with  his  wife 
after  he  was  made  an  apostle  1 1  Will  you  tell  me  how 
Challoner  found  that  out  ?  Deacons  and  bishops  are 
commanded^  or,  at  least,  permitted  to  have  wives,  and 
you  would  empty  the  seven  vials  of  your  wrath,  and 
pour  all  the  anathemas  of  Trent  upon  the  head  of  the 
priest  or  bishop  that,  in  obeying  God,  would  disobey 
your  Church  I  Is  it  possible  for  you  and  the  Bible  to 
be  in  more  direct  opposition  ?  Is  it  wrong  to  conclude 
that,  in  thus  forbidding  to  marry,  your  Church  gives  at 
least  one  evidence  that  it  is  Antichrist  ?  Will  you  fa- 
vor me,  dear  sir,  with  a  common-sense  exposition  of 
the  meaning  of  Paul,  1  Tim.,  iv.,  3,  where  he  brands 
"  forbidding  to  marry"  as  a  doctrine  of  "  devils  ?"  If 
half  as  literal  in  the  exposition  of  Paul  as  in  your  ex- 
position of  "  this  is  my  body,"  "  this  is  my  blood,"  how 
will  you  avoid  the  inference  that  you  are  a  devil? 
Pray  remember  I  do  not  say  you  are  a  devil ;  if  you 
were,  you  would  not  believe  half  you  say  you  do.  I 
am  only  holding  you  to  your  own  principles. 

Again :  your  Church  enjoins  confession  under  the 
most  stringent  rules.  To  this  I  have  already  adverted 
in  former  letters.  I  advert  to  it  again,  to  illustrate  how 
you  teach  for  doctrines  the  commandments  of  men. 
The  Council  of  Trent  teaches  that  "it  is  the  duty  of 
every  man  who  hath  fallen  after  baptism  to  confess  his 
sins  at  lea.st  once  a  year  to  a  priest."  It  teaches  that 
"  this  confession  of  sin  is  to  be  secret,  for  public  confes- 
sion is  neither  commanded  nor  expedient."  It  teaches 
that  "this  confession  of  sin  must  be  very  exact  and 
particular,  together  with  all  circumstances,  and  that  it 


T  O      B  I  S  H  O  P     n  U  G  H  E  S,  93 

Absolution.  Thankfulness.  A  few  questions. 

extend  to  the  most  secret  sins,  even  of  thought,  or 
against  the  ninth  or  tenth  commandment."  You  know 
you  omit  the  second  commandment,  which  forbids  your 
bowing  to  pictures  and  images,  and  divide  the  tenth 
into  two,  so  as  to  make  up  the  ninth  and  tenth,  and 
thus  complete  the  number.  On  receiving  confession 
as  thus  ordained,  the  priest  pronounces  absolution  upon 
the  penitent,  "  not  conditional  or  declarative  only,  but 
absolute  and  judicial."  When  I  remember  the  use 
which  your  Church  has  made  of  tliis  doctrine,  and  the 
fearful  power  which  it  gives  the  priest  over  the  people, 
my  heart  swells  with  emotion  as  I  pen  these  lines ; 
and,  like  the  angel  of  Manoah's  sacrifice,  my  thanks- 
givings ascend  to  heaven  that  I  have  escaped  the  snare 
of  the  fowler. 

Now,  sir,  let  me  again  turn  querist,  and  ask  you. 
Where  in  the  Bible  do  you  find  your  doctrine  of  auric- 
ular confession  taught  ?  With  me,  the  teachings  of  all 
your  councils  weigh  not  a  feather,  Give  me,  if  you 
can,  Bible  authority.  Is  there  one  text,  from  Genesis 
to  Revelation,  which  you,  as  a  scholar,  will  say  teaches 
it  ?  I  put  this  c|ucstion  to  you,  not  as  a  bishop,  but  as 
a  scholar.  A  priest  frf)m  Maynooth,  taught  there  only 
to  muiTibln  the  Missal,  or  a  poor  unlettered  peasant 
from  Mayo  or  (ralway,  into  whoso  lips  words  are  put, 
as  into  the  iriouth  of  a  parrot,  might  rpiotc  to  mo  James, 
v.,  IG,  which  .says,  "  Confess  your  faults  one  to  anoth- 
er"— but  will  you  do  il  ?  Thry  might  \v\\  iiic  that  the 
Phari.'<ecs  were  bapti/cd  of  Jolin  Baptist,  "confessing 
their  sins;"  that  at  Ephfsus,  "many  that  believed 
came  and  confessed,  and  showed  their  deeds" — but  will 


94  K  1  R  W  A  N  '  S     L  E  T  T  E  R  8 

Reciprocal  confession.  Irish  reciprocity.  Judas. 

you  do  it  ?  If  James  is  your  authority,  are  not  you 
bound  to  confess  to  me,  if  I  am  to  you  ?  "  Confess 
your  faults  one  to  another  '^^  if  this  text  teaches  auric- 
ular confession,  I  hold  you  to  it.  When  did  you  put  the 
poor  Irishman,  who  whispered  his  sins  into  your  ears, 
in  your  seat  in  the  confessional,  and,  kneeling  down 
outside,  whisper  through  the  little  square  hole  cut  in 
its  side  your  sins  into  his  ear  ?  This  would  be  con- 
fessing' your  sins  one  to  another.  This  would  be  re- 
ciprocal confession ;  but  yours  is  a  true  Irish  reciprocity 
— all  on  one  side.  Did  you  ever  do  this,  sir  ?  Never, 
never.  I  ask  you  again,  not  as  a  bishop,  but  as  a 
scholar,  whether  a  single  text  quoted  by  Challoner,  or 
Butler,  or  Hay,  gives  a  shadow  of  countenance  to  your 
doctrine  of  confession  ?  Lay  aside  your  mitre,  your 
crosier,  your  crook,  and  your  canonicals,  and  look  at 
those  texts  as  simple  John  Hughes,  and  then  answer 
my  question.  How  can  you  account  to  man  or  to  God 
for  the  erection  of  such  an  awful  institution  as  Auric- 
ular Confession,  upon  the  merest  perversion  of  Scrip- 
ture— a  perversion  which  has  neither  sense  nor  wit  to 
excuse  it,  and  without  a  solitary  text  or  example  in  the 
Bible  to  sustain  it  ?  Oh,  why  will  you  do  as  a  priest 
what  you  would  not  do  as  a  scholar  or  as  a  man  ? 

And,  then,  what  aggravates  the  whole  matter  is,  that 
every  man  who  is  made  a  priest,  no  matter  how  igno- 
rant or  wicked,  feels  himself  divinely  appointed  of  Heav- 
en to  confess  sinners,  and  to  absolve  them  from  their 
sins  !  No  matter  if  he  is  a  Judas,  he  has  the  same  au- 
thority to  confess  and  absolve  as  Peter !  A  priest,  sir, 
under  your  own  jurisdiction,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  an 


TOBISHOPHUGHES.  95 

A  wretched  priest.  An  exhortation. 

TTishman  also,  was  heard  thus  to  address  the  hostler  of 
the  hotel  at  which  he  boarded  on  returnmsf  from  Mass 
on  Sabbath  afternoon  :  '•  Pat,  get  up  my  horse  ;  I  have 
to  go  and  confess  a  poor  devil  who  is  dying  five  or  six 
miles  out  in  the  country."  I  would  not  say  this  wretch 
is  a  fair  sample  of  all  your  priests :  I  hope  otherwise. 
But  there  are  too  many  like  him !  And  he  has  the 
same  power  to  confess  and  absolve  that  you  have, 
against  whose  character  I  know  nothing,  save  that  you 
sustain  a  system  which  you  must  know  to  be  as  false 
as  the  Koran. 

I  would  implore  you,  my  dear  sir,  to  review  this  doc- 
trine of  your  Church.  As  to  the  Word  of  God,  it  is 
baseless  as  the  fabric  of  a  vision.  It  was  unknown  in 
the  Jewish  Church;  it  is  untaught  in  the  Christian 
Scriptures.  It  crept  into  your  Church  during  the  Dark 
Ages.  It  was  nailed  upon  it  at  Trent.  It  is  clearly  a 
device  of  man,  and  in  terrible  opposition  to  some  of  the 
plainest  precepts  of  God's  word.  It  gives  power  to  the 
priest,  and  enslaves  the  people.  It  has  been  to  your 
Church,  in  every  land,  a  fearful  source  of  corruption. 
Every  thing  is  beneath  you  but  the  truth.  Reject  the 
lie,  however  long  it  may  have  been  told,  and  however 
it  may  incrca.so  your  incounj  and  influence.  No  longer 
pro.stitutc  your  talents  and  education  in  maintaining 
this  rfligious  juggle,  but  .stjnd  tiie  sinner  t«  the  cross, 
telling  him  that  who.soever  shall  there  confess  and  for- 
sake his  sin  shall  find  mercy.  In  this  thing  show  your- 
self a  man,  and  the  blessings  of  unborn  generations 
will  be  upon  you. 

And  could  1  address  myself  to  every  papist  upon 


96  K  1  It  ^\"  A  N  '  S     1-  li  T  •!'  E  R  S 

Confession  a  device.  Absolution.  An  appeal. 


whom  the  sun  shines,  I  would  say  to  them  all,  and  es- 
pecially to  those  of  your  country  and  mine,  the  doctrine 
of  confessiofi  is  a  jjriestli/  device  to  gain  an  absolute 
authority  over  your  consciences.  You  are  no  more 
bound  to  confess  to  a  priest  than  he  is  to  confess  to 
you.  And  as  to  the  doctrine  of  absolution  connected 
with  confession,  it  is  simple  blasphemy.  Grod  only  can 
forgive  sin.  And  were  it  not  for  the  fees  connected 
with  your  confession  and  absolution,  there  is  not  a 
priest  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  that  would  care  a  straw 
about  your  confession,  or  that  would  commit  the  blas- 
phemy of  forgiving  your  sins.  If  bishops  or  priests 
will  not,  in  this  day  of  light,  cut  in  pieces  the  net  wove 
in  the  Dark  Ages  to  confine  and  trammel  you,  it  is  in 
your  power  to  rise  and  tear  it  in  pieces.  Irish  Roman 
Catholics !  our  fathers  fought,  and  bled,  and  died  to 
obtain  for  themselves  and  for  us  civil  liberty.  Their 
blood,  shed  by  British  bayonets  in  these  struggles  for 
their  civil  rights,  have  crimsoned  every  stream  and  fat- 
tened every  field  of  Ireland.  And  will  you,  their  sons, 
bow  your  necks  to  a  priestly  tyranny,  which  debases 
you  mentally  and  morally  ?  Will  you  give  yourselves 
to  be  led,  and  rode,  and  robbed  by  priests  who  come  to 
you  pretending  that  the  keys  of  heaven  hang  by  their 
girdle,  and  that  it  is  with  them  to  let  you  in  or  shut 
you  out  at  pleasure  ?  No  man  can  be  a  slave  while 
his  soul  is  free,  nor  can  any  man  be  free  while  his 
soul  is  in  bondage. 

There  is,  reverend  sir,  one  confession  which  I  freely 
make  to  you ;  my  spirit  waxes  warm  when  I  think  or 
write  upon  the  absurdities  of  your  Chumh — upon  its 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  97 

A  confession.  Bad  business.  The  Irish  not  Jesuits. 

flagrant  perversions  of  the  Scriptures — upon  its  shame- 
ful impositions  upon  the  ignorant  and  credulous — upon 
the  unblushing  effrontery  with  which  it  teaches  for  di- 
vine doctrines  the  commandments  of  men.  And  I  as- 
sure you  that  my  warmth  of  feeling  is  not  diminished 
when  I  consider  that  a  man  of  your  character  and 
country  could  consent  to  be  a  chief  workman  in  this 
bad  business.  I  am  ashamed  for  you.  Irishmen  have 
their  faults,  but  they  are  not  usually  those  of  duplici- 
ty, or  perversion  of  the  truth  ;  and  hence,  while  they 
make  good  papists,  they  make  bad  Jesuits.  Do  any 
thing  rather  than  thus  traffic  in  souls. 

I  regret  to  find  that  I  must  end  this  letter  without 
ending  my  illustrations  of  the  way  and  manner  in 
which  you  teach  for  doctrines  the  commandments  of 
men.     This  I  hope  to  do  in  my  next. 

With  respect,  yours,  Kirwan. 

E 


98  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     L  E  T  T  E  R  S 

Purgatory.  Made  for  the  middling  Suffrages. 


LETTER    IX. 

Reasons  which  prevent  from  returning  to  the  Papal  Church  continued. 
— Purgatory. — Transubstantiation. 

My  dear  Sir, — I  will  proceed  with  the  statement 
of  the  reasons  which  prevent  me  from  returning  to  the 
pale  of  your  Church.  I  have  reached  my  fifth  reason: 
your  teaching  for  doctrines  of  divine  authority  the  com- 
mandments of  men.  I  entered  upon  the  iUustration 
of  the  way  in  which  you  do  this  in  my  last,  and,  with- 
out ending  my  illustrations,  ended  my  letter.  Permit 
me  to  state  a  few  more  for  your  candid  consideration. 

The  doctrine  of  Purgatory  is  one  of  the  peculiar 
doctrines  of  your  Church.  You  teach  that  nearly  all 
Christians,  when  they  die,  are  "  neither  so  perfectly 
pure  and  clean  as  to  exempt  them  from  the  least  spot 
or  stain,  nor  yet  so  unhappy  as  to  die  under  the  guilt 
of  unrepented  deadly  sin."  It  is  for  these  middling 
Christians  that  you  make  a  Purgatory,  where  they  re- 
main until  they  make  full  satisfaction  for  sin,  and  then 
they  go  to  heaven.  And  the  "Profession  of  Faith"  of 
Pius  IV.  tells  us  that  "  the  souls  therein  detained  are 
helped  by  the  suffrages  of  the  faithful — that  is,  by  the 
prayers  and  the  alms  offered  for  them,  and  principally 
by  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  Mass."  And  the  doctrine 
of  your  Church  is  so  expounded  upon  this  matter,  that 
but  few,  if  any,  die,  however  good,  without  needing 
purgatorial  purification ;  and  that  but  few  are  so  bad 
but  that  they  may  be  there  fitted  for  heaven.     This, 


TOBISIIOPHUGHES.  99 

All  senc  there.  Its  value.  Proof  texts. 

you  will  admit,  is  a  fair  statement.  The  more  you 
get  into  Purgatory,  the  more  you  will  receive  of  the 
"  suffrages  of  the  faithful" — that  is,  of  their  money. 

I  have  already  told  you  my  estimate  of  this  doctrine. 
It  is  that  by  which  your  Church  traffics  in  the  souls 
of  men,  and  an  amazingly  profitable  traffic  it  makes 
of  it.  It  has  placed  in  your  possession  riches  far  ex- 
ceeding in  value  the  mines  of  Peru ;  and  because  of 
the  value  of  this  doctrine,  you  seek  in  all  possible  ways 
to  sustain  it.  "With  me  the  authority  of  your  popes 
and  councils  is  not  worth  a  penny.  I  would  rather 
have  one  text  of  Scripture  bearing  upon  the  point  than 
the  teachings  of  as  many  such  as  you  could  string  be- 
tween here  and  Jupiter.  Let  us,  then,  look  at  the 
chief  texts  adduced  to  sustain  a  Purgatory. 

One  of  these  texts  is  Matt.,  xii.,  82 :  "  Whosoever 
speakcth  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  not  bo  for- 
given him,  neither  in  this  world,  neither  in  the  world 
to  come."  Matt.,  v.,  26,  is  another:  "Verily  I  say 
unto  thee,  thou  .shalt  by  no  means  come  out  thence  till 
thou  hast  paid  the  uttermost  fartliing."  Both  these, 
you  say,  ref(;r  to  I'urgatory.  From  the  one  you  con- 
clude that  sins  may  be  forgiven  in  the  next  world ; 
from  the  other,  that  none  can  get  out  of  Purgatory  till 
the  last  farthing  is  paid.  Now,  dear  sir,  let  mo  ask 
you  how  you  put  these  texts  together  ?  If  sins  arc 
forgiven,  how  or  why  is  payment  also  required  to  the 
last  fartliiiig?  ('an  I  forgive  a  debt,  and  yet  require 
its  ])ayment  ?  L(»ok  at  th(;  first  text  again  ;  you  find 
Purgatory  in  it,  but  Iiow  ?  In  this  way :  becan.'^o  there 
is  a  sin  which  will  not  bo  forgiv(!n  in  this  world  nor  in 


100  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

Logic.  Mohammed'^  coflln  Challoner. 


the  world  to  come,  therefore  there  is  a  sm  that  will 
be  forgiven  in  the  world  to  come  !  I  Such  is  the  logic 
of  infallible  Rome  !  Because  a  certain  sin  is  not  to  be 
forgiven  here  or  hereafter,  therefore  many  sins  will 
be  forgiven  hereafter !  and  because  "  this  world"  and 
"  the  world  to  come"  is  inclusive  of  all  time  and  place, 
popery  builds  up  a  place  which  belongs  neither  to  this 
world  nor  to  the  world  to  come,  and  fills  it  with  fire, 
and  calls  it  Purgatory !  Like  Mohammed's  coffin,  it 
floats  somewhere  between  heaven  and  hell.  Into  this 
world  of  fire  you  drive  the  souls  of  men  as  they  leave 
the  body,  and  let  them  out  only  on  the  reception  of 
"  the  suffrages  of  the  faithful" — that  is,  their  money ! 
Now,  sir,  what  do  you  say  to  all  this  ?  Is  it  not  too 
bad? 

But,  you  ask,  are  there  not  other  texts  quoted  by 
our  writers  to  sustain  Purgatory  as  a  scriptural  institu- 
tion ?  Oh,  yes ;  they  are  as  far  from  the  point  as  the 
most  vivid  imagination  can  well  conceive.  They  are 
by  the  diameter  of  the  heavens  farther  from  the  point 
than  those  just  quoted.  Let  any  intelligent  man  read 
chapter  xiv.  of  Challoner's  "  Catholic  Christian,"  and 
he  wiU  rise  from  it  with  amazement  that  Grod  could 
ever  leave  men  to  the  folly  of  so  perverting  Scripture, 
or  that  even  the  devil  could  permit  them  so  absurdly 
to  misapply  it,  as  absurdity  does  not  always  suit  his 
purpose.  Permit  me  to  quote  an  instance  by  way  of 
illustration.  We  are  taught  in  Matt.,  xii.,  36,  that 
we  must  give  an  account  for  every  idle  word  in  the 
day  of  judgment.  Now,  how  does  this  text  prove  a 
Purgatory  ?     In  this  wise  :  "  No  one  can  think  that 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  101 

Not  joking  Alms  and  other  suffrages.  Questions. 

God  will  condemn  a  soul  to  hell  for  every  idle  word ; 
therefore  there  must  be  a  Purgatory  to  punish  those 
guilty  of  these  little  transgressions."  If  you  or  any 
mortal  man  tliink  I  am  joking,  turn  to  the  chapter. 
Let  me  quote  the  answer  in  full  to  the  question,  "Are 
not  souls  in  Purgatory  capable  of  relief  in  that  state  ?" 
'•  Yes,  they  are,  but  not  for  any  tiling  that  they  can  do 
for  themselves,  but  from  the  prayers^  alms,  and  other 
suffrages  offered  to  God  for  them  by  the  faithful  upon 
earth,  which  God  in  his  mercy  is  pleased  to  accept 
of  by  reason  of  that  communion  which  we  have  with 
them  by  being  fellow-members  of  the  same  body  of 
the  Church,  under  the  same  head,  which  is  Jesus 
Christ."  Now,  sir,  if  in  this  answer  you  substitute 
the  word  "priest"  for  "God,"  then  we  come  to  the 
facts  in  the  ca.se.  The  "  alms"  and  the  other  "  suf- 
frages of  the  faithful"  are  pocketed  by  the  priest ;  and 
Purgatory  was  invented  for  the  special  purpose  of  se- 
curing these  alms  and  other  suffrages  of  the  faithful  to 
Pope,  prelates,  and  priests. 

Now,  sir,  let  me  ask  you  a  few  questions.  Perliaps 
I  have  asked  you  too  many  already,  but  you  will  bear 
with  a  fellow-countryman,  anxious,  not  so  much  to 
cmbarra.SH  you,  as  to  bring  out  the  truth.  What  has 
the  blood  of  Christ,  which  cleanses /row  all  sin,  to  do 
with  the  venial  sins  of  those  middliny^  Christians  who 
die,  not  good  enough  to  go  to  heaven,  nor  bad  enough 
to  go  to  hell  ?  What  has  the  blood  of  Christ,  liis  atone- 
ment, liis  finished  work,  at  all  to  do,  on  your  plan,  with 
the  saving  of  the  sinner?  If  my  child  should  die  and 
go  to  Purgatory,  would  a  thousand  dollars  given  to  you 


102  kiravan's    letters 

Hail  Mary.  Sickening.  History. 

at  once  have  the  same  elicct  as  a  hundred  dollars  a 
year  for  ten  years  ?  How  can  you  tell  when  enough 
is  given  to  get  the  soul  out,  or  has  your  purse  no  bot- 
tom ?  As  souls  are  spirits  without  bodies,  how  can 
you  tell  one  soul  from  another  as  they  issue  from  the 
gates  of  Purgatory  ?  In  the  prayer  "  Hail  Mary  I"  we 
are  made  to  utter  at  its  conclusion  the  following  peti- 
tion :  "  Holy  Mary,  Mother  of  G-od,  pray  for  us  sinners, 
now  and  at  the  hour  of  our  deaths  Why  not  solicit 
her  to  pray  for  us  after  our  death,  to  get  us  out  of 
Purgatory  ?  Is  it  because  you  are  afraid  the  good 
woman  would  get  us  out  before  the  priests  had  gotten 
enough  of  the  "  alms  and  suffrages  of  the  faithful  ?" 

My  dear  sir,  the  absurdities  connected  with  your 
doctrine  of  Purgatory  are  sickening.  It  is  based  on 
the  love  of  money.  The  Bishop  of  Air  candidly  con- 
fesses that  it  is  not  revealed  in  the  Scriptures.  It  came 
into  the  Church  in  the  seventh  century,  it  was  affirm- 
ed in  the  twelfth,  it  was  stereotyped  at  Trent,  and  fear- 
ful anathemas  are  hurled  at  all  who  deny  it.  It  puts 
away  the  work  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  sends  the  sinner, 
not  to  "  the  blood  of  sprinkhng,"  but  to  the  fire  of  Pur- 
gatory, in  order  to  secure  a  meetness  for  heaven.  And 
why  this  parody  —  this  caricature  of  the  religion  of 
Grod  ?  Simply  to  put  "  the  alms  and  the  suffrages  of 
the  faithful"  in  the  pockets  of  your  priests  !  What  an 
outrage  upon  the  common  sense  of  the  world  to  have 
men,  dres.sed  up  in  canonicals,  teaching  things  as  true 
of  which  the  beast  that  Balaam  rode  might  well  be 
ashamed,  and  all,  all  for  the  sake  of  money ! 

I  entreat  you,  my  dear  sir,  to  review  this  doctrine 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  103 

Father  O'Learj'.  Transubstantiation  defined. 

of  your  Church.  You  surely  must  see  its  absurdity. 
Neither  in  the  AVord  of  God,  nor  in  the  common  reason 
of  man,  is  there  the  shadow  of  an  argument  to  sustain 
it ;  nor  is  there  a  class  of  men  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth  who  deserve  a  Purgatory  from  which  "  the  alms 
and  other  suffrages  of  the  faithful"  would  never  release 
them,  as  do  those  who  preach  up  a  Purgatory  and  its 
fearful  torments  for  the  sake  of  filthy  lucre  ;  but,  as 
Father  O'Leary  said  to  Canning,  "  I  am  afraid  many 
of  them  will  go  farther  and  fare  worse."  My  respect 
for  you  renders  me  solicitous  that  you  should  not  be 
of  the  number.  I  wish  you  not  to  be  one  of  the  dumb 
herd  who  hold  the  truth  in  unrighteousness,  and  be- 
lievc  a  lie  that  they  may  be  danmed. 

Transubstantiation  is  another  of  the  peculiar  doc- 
trines of  your  Cliurch.  By  this  you  teach  that,  in  the 
Lord's  Supper,  the  bread  and  the  wine  are  converted 
into  the  real  body  and  blood  of  Christ  by  the  consecra- 
tion of  the  priest.  The  thing  is  so  ab.surd  as  to  confute 
itself,  and  as,  therefore,  to  recjuirc  from  me  but  a  brief 
statement.  Challoner,  chapter  v.,  thus  states  the  doc- 
trine :  "  The  bread  and  wine  are  changed  by  the  con- 
secration into  the  body  and  blood  of  Clirist."  "  Is  it, 
then,  the  belief  of  the  Churcli  tbat  Je.sus  Christ  him- 
self, true  God  an<l  true  man,  is  truly,  really,  and  sub- 
stantially present  in  tlie  ble.s.scd  sacrament  ?  It  is  ;  for 
where  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  are,  there  his  soul 
also  and  his  divinity  needs  bo  ;  .'iiid,  oon-sequently, 
there  must  bo  whole  Christ,  God  and  iDan  :  there  is  no 
taking  hirn  to  jiircfs."  '  And  all  this  is  proven  to  dem- 
onstration by  the  (|uo<ing  of  the  words  of  Christ  at  the 


104  KIR  AVAN's     LETTERS 

"  Is"  and  "  this."  Common  sense.  More  questions. 

institution  of  the  Supper,  "  This  is  my  body,"  "  This 
is  my  blood." 

Now,  sir,  if  you  and  your  Church  had  only  the  com- 
mon sense  to  look  for  the  true  meaning  of  the  two  lit- 
tle words  "  is"  and  "  this"  in  the  above  sentences  of 
the  Savior,  it  would  have  saved  you  a  world  of  trouble. 
Look  at  one  or  two  similar  passages :  "  The  seven  good 
kine  are  seven  years — and  the  seven  good  ears  are  sev- 
en years." — G-en.,  xli.,  26.  "  The  seven  stars  are  the 
angels  of  the  seven  churches." — Rev.,  i.,  20.  "  The 
seven  heads  are  the  seven  mountains." — Rev.,  xvii.,  9. 
The  sense  is  plain  here.  They  signify  those  things. 
So  the  word  "  is"  may  mean  to  signify.  Now  for  the 
word  "  this."  It  obviously  refers  to  the  bread.  I  will 
have  none  of  your  nonsense  about  "  the  substance  con- 
tained under  the  species."  It  is  darkening  counsel  by 
words  without  knowledge.  So  that  the  simple,  natu- 
ral, reasonable,  scriptural  sense  is,  "  This  bread  signi- 
fies or  represents  my  body" — ''  this  wine  signifies  or 
represents  my  blood."  Just  sec  how  a  little  common 
sense  simplifies  every  thing  ! 

Now,  turning  back  to  your  interpretation,  permit 
me,  in  view  of  it,  to  ask  you  a  few  questions.  Did  the 
apostles,  at  the  first  institution  of  the  Supper,  eat  the 
real  body  and  blood  of  Christ  ?  So  your  Church  must 
and  does  teach !  What  power  have  you,  more  than  I 
have,  to  work  such  a  miracle  as  to  change  a  little  wa- 
fer into  the  real  body  and  blood  of  Christ?  If  you 
stickle  so  much  for  the  letter  in  your  interpretation  of 
"  This  is  my  body,"  "  This  is  my  blood,"  why  with- 
hold the  wine  from  all  but  the  priests  ?     Why  give  up 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  105 

Arsenic.  Strait  jacket.  Good  nonsense 

the  bread  for  a  wafer  ?  If  some  wag  should  mix  ar- 
senic with  the  wafer  before  consecration,  would  you  be 
willmg  to  take  it  after  you  had  changed  it  into  the  real 
body  and  blood  of  Christ  ?  You  place  great  dependence 
on  John,  vi.,  56.  You  take  it  literally.  Will  you  take 
the  whole  connection  literally?  Then  he  that  eateth 
this  bread  shall  live  forever.  He  that  eats  this  bread 
will  never  hunger.  All  that  you  will  have  to  do,  if 
your  principle  is  true,  is  to  give  your  wafer  to  the  poor, 
famishing  Irish,  and  they  hunger  no  more  ! 

But  the  tiling  is  too  outrageously  absurd  to  dwell 
upon  I  Nothing  equals  it  in  absurdity  in  all  paganism. 
If  a  man  should  mumble  a  few  words  over  a  stone,  and 
tell  you  it  was  converted  by  these  words  into  bread, 
what  would  you  say  to  him  ?  If,  against  all  the  evi- 
dences of  your  senses,  he  should  seriously  assert  that  it 
was  bread  ;  and  if,  in  addition,  he  should  seriously  as- 
sert that,  unless  you  believed  that  stone  to  be  bread, 
you  must  be  damned,  would  you  not  be  for  putting 
him  in  a  strait  jacket  ? 

But  I  must  bring  this  letter  to  a  close.  These  arc 
but  a  few  of  the  ilhistrations  of  the  way  and  manner 
in  which  ycm  teach  for  doctrines  the  commandments 
of  men.  And  without  at  all  exhausting  the  subject,  I 
must  hero  close  my  statement  of  the  reasons  which  for- 
bid mo  to  return  to  the  pale  of  your  Church.  When  I 
give  up  my  ]?ible  for  the  commandments  of  men,  they 
must  have  learning,  or  genius,  or  wit,  or  .sonjcthing  to 
recommend  them.  They  must  be,  at  least,  good  non- 
sense, which,  you  know,  to  ;ni  Irishman,  is  (juito  inter- 
esting. With  resj)ect,  yours.  Km  wan. 

E  2 


106  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

Reasons  frankly  given.  Questions  as  to  the  Church 


LETTER   X. 

Is  the  Church  of  Rome  a  Church  of  Christ '? 

My  dear  Sir, — I  have,  with  all  frankness  and  hon- 
esty, stated  to  you  the  reasons  which  yet  prevent  me 
from  returning  to  the  pale  of  your  Church  ;  and  al- 
though I  have  stated  but  five,  which  are  scarcely  a 
tithe  of  those  which  press  themselves  forward  for  ut- 
terance, yet,  if  not  to  you,  they  are  to  myself,  and  I 
think  are  to  all  unbiased  minds,  entirely  sufficient.  I 
have  even  the  faith  to  believe  that  you  yourself  wiU 
deem  them  sufficient ;  and  that,  were  it  not  for  the  pe- 
culiarity of  your  position,  and  your  plighted  oath  to 
sustain  your  Church,  right  or  wrong,  they  would  have 
the  same  cfiect  upon  your  mind  and  conduct  that 
they  have  upon  mine.  There  nmst  be  an  awful  con- 
flict between  conscience  and  duty  when  we  find  our- 
selves in  a  false  position  which  we  arc  sworn  to  main- 
tain. AVith  me  the  conflict  would  be  of  brief  contin- 
uance ;  I  would  follow  conscience  at  all  hazards. 

A\Tiilc  reviewing  and  weighing  these  reasons,  the 
questions  have  arisen  before  my  mind.  Is  the  Roman 
Catholic  a  church  of  Christ?  Has  it  so  far  departed 
from  the  truth,  or  so  grievously  perverted  it,  as  to  for- 
feit all  claim  to  that  title?  These  are  questions  of 
grave  import,  which  I  will  not  undertake  to  decide. 
But  1  wish  to  state  to  you,  in  the  present  letter,  how 
.some  things  bearing  on  these  questions  strike  me,  and 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  107 

Church  organization.  Whence  yours.  Answer. 

then  I  will  submit  the  decision  of  them  to  yourself. 
To  this,  surely,  you  will  make  no  objection. 

The  external  organization  of  your  Church  is  obvi- 
ously not  that  taught  by  Christ  and  his  apostles.  As 
to  this  matter,  every  thing  in  the  Bible  is  simple.  The 
kingdom  of  Christ  is  not  of  outward  observation — its 
seat  is  in  the  hearts  and  affections  of  men  —  its  ele- 
ments arc  righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the 
Holy  Ghost.  The  great  object  of  the  apostles  and  first 
preachers  of  the  doctrines  of  Christ  was  to  win  men  to 
the  belief  and  to  the  practice  of  the  truth.  When  men 
believed  the  truth,  they  were  baptized,  and  were  thus 
introduced  into  the  communion  of  the  saints ;  and  not 
a  word  Is  said  about  popes,  patriarchs,  cardinals,  metro- 
politans, prelates,  or  of  the  duty  of  implicit  obedience 
to  their  authority.  There  is  a  government  enjoined, 
but  it  is  as  free  and  as  simple  as  one  can  well  conceive ; 
while  yours  is  as  despotic,  and  as  absurdly  pompous  as 
one  can  well  imagine.  As  your  external  organization 
is  not  taught  in  the  Bible,  where  did  you  get  it  ? 

The  answer  to  this  question  to  my  mind  is  plain. 
A.s  the  early  Church  advanced  in  numbers,  influence, 
and  wealtb,  it  gradually  lo.st  the  martyr  spirit  of  iis 
foundfTs.  Its  ministers  became  corrupt,  secular,  and 
ambitious.  By  degrees,  bi.shops,  from  an  odice,  be- 
came an  order.  As  Rome  was  the  metropolis  of  the 
world,  and  as  it  was  there  that  the  greatest  number  of 
martyrs  had  shed  their  blood,  the  bishf)p  of  the  nirtro- 
politan  fily  H«ion  became  pre-(Miiinent  among  liis  bniili- 
rcn.  Now  the  state  sought  the  influence  of  the  Church 
to  a.ssi.st  in  maintaining  its  authority,  and  the  Church 


108  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

t'luircli  aiij  stale  Cii-sar  and  ilie  Pope. 

sought  the  influence  of  the  state  to  assist  in  building 
up  its  gliostly  dominion.  Each  yielded  to  the  request 
of  the  other.  The  Church  rapidly  extended,  and  the 
ambition  of  priests  conceived  the  idea  of  governing  it 
after  the  model  of  the  state.  Rome  must  be  the  cen- 
tre of  ecclesiastical  as  of  civil  power.  The  state  had 
its  Csesar,  the  Church  must  have  its  Pope.  Caesar 
had  his  governors  of  provinces,  the  Pope  must  have 
his  patriarchs.  The  governors  had  their  subordinates, 
and  these  again  theirs,  down  to  the  very  lowest  office ; 
so  that  the  patriarchs  had  their  archbishops,  these  their 
tishops,  and  these  their  priests,  and  so  down  to  the 
very  lowest  office  in  the  Church.  As  in  the  state  all 
civil  authority  emanated  from  Csesar,  and  all  disputes 
were  finally  referable  to  him,  so  in  the  Church  all  ec- 
clesiastical authority  emanated  from  the  Pope,  and  he 
was  made  the  final  judge  of  all  disputes.  Here,  sir, 
is  the  origin  of  your  ecclesiastical  government ;  and, 
did  the  limits  of  a  letter  permit,  I  could  run  out  this 
parallel  into  some  details  which  even  to  you  would  be 
striking  and  confounding.  Your  ecclesiastical  organi- 
zation has  just  the  same  divine  warrant  that  that  of 
Mohammedanism  or  Hindooism  has — Grod  permits  it. 
The  Roman  empire  has  passed  away;  ages  ago  its 
mangled  limbs  were  strewn  over  the  earth ;  but  in 
that  ecclesiastical  organization  called  Popery  we  have 
the  living  model  of  that  form  of  government  by  which 
the  CsEsars  bound  the  nations  of  the  earth  to  their 
thrones,  and  by  which  they  were  enabled  to  crush,  at 
the  extremes  of  the  world,  every  effort  to  break  the 
yoke  of  servitude. 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  109 

Maynooth  boys  Forms  of  worship.  Did  Peter  so  ' 


How  far  all  this  bears  upon  the  question  whether 
yours  is  a  church  of  Christ,  I  submit  to  your  candid 
decision.  AVhen  weighing  this  matter,  I  would  entreat 
you  not  to  jeopardize  your  standing  as  a  scholar  and  as 
a  man  of  sense  by  any  reference  to  "  Thou  art  Peter, 
and  upon  this  rock  I  build  my  Church."  Leave  that 
thing  to  the  boys  from  Maynooth.  with  long  coats  and 
short  brains. 

The  forms  and  method  of  your  public  worship  are 
obviously  not  those  taught  us  in  the  Bible.  I  enter 
your  church.  Saint  Patrick's,  to  worship  God.  I  am 
required  to  sprinkle  myself  with  holy  water,  and  to 
make  on  myself  the  sign  of  the  cross.  And  why,  or 
for  what  purpose  ?  That  I  may  be  defended  from  un- 
clean spirits  I  What !  unclean  spirits  in  Saint  Pat- 
rick's I  I  look  around  nie,  and  I  sec  a  forest  of  can- 
dles burning  u{)on  the  altar.  And  for  what  purpose  ? 
Whore  is  this  commanded  ?  I  sec  people  counting  their 
beads,  and  praying  before  pictures.  Wliere  is  this 
taught  ?  Now  comes  out  a  priest  in  his  robes  embroi- 
dered with  cro.sses.  Did  Peter  or  Paul  wear  such  things 
when  teaching  Jews  and  Gentiles  the  faith  of  Christ? 
He  says  nothing  to  the  pcoj)lc,  but  goes  through  iho 
Ma.ss  in  Latin,  of  which  I  may  know  nothing.  Was 
thi.s  the  way  Pctf^r  and  Paul  did  ?  Then  come  out 
boys  in  white  frocks,  with  their  censors,  *ofl('ring  in- 
cense to  the  priest,  and  iiliing  the  church  with  tho  odor. 
Were  Peter  and  Paul  thus  incensed  ?  The  priest  goes 
through  tho  .service,  bowing,  and  kissing  th(;  altar,  now 
lifting  up  his  hands,  now  his  eyes;  now  speaking  in  :i 
whisper,  now  in  full  voice,  according  to  tho  rules  laid 


110  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

Heathen  ceremony.  You  a  successor !  The  Bible. 


down.  Now,  sir,  where  did  you  get  these  things  ?  And, 
after  the  ceremony  is  over,  I  again  cross  myself  with 
holy  water  and  retire.  This  is  your  public  worship  of 
Grod  every  where,  and  from  age  to  age,  save  that  in 
this  country  there  is  a  sermon  on  sticking  to  Mother 
Church  sometimes  added.  Have  you  the  most  distant 
idea  that  it  was  in  this  way  the  first  Christians  wor- 
shiped God  ?  The  manner  of  your  public  worship  is 
not  scriptural  or  Christian ;  it  is  heathen,  and  was 
originally  adopted  for  the  seducing  of  the  heathen  to 
Christianity.  If  Peter  or  Paul  could  be  introduced  to 
Saint  Patrick's  when  you  were  going  through  High 
Mass,  and  were  told  that  you  were  one  of  their  suc- 
cessors, what  would  be  their  astonishment !  "What ! 
you  a  successor  of  the  men  who  lived  by  catching  fish, 
and  mending  nets,  and  making  tents  I !  and  that  farce 
in  which  you  are  a  chief  actor  every  Sabbath,  the  ex- 
act counterpart  of  the  worship  instituted  by  the  apos- 
tles ! !  Have  you  the  most  remote  idea  that  it  was 
thus  Peter,  and  Paul,  and  the  other  apostles  and  first 
ministers  of  the  Word  subverted  the  idolatry  of  the 
Roman  world  ?  Your  manner  of  public  worship  is  not 
only  unscriptural,  but  in  direct  opposition  to  Scripture ; 
it  wants  nothing  of  heathenism  but  the  name ;  and 
how  far  all.this  bears  upon  the  question  whether  yours 
is  a  church  of  Christ,  I  submit  to  your  candid  decision. 
The  Bible  is  God's  revealed  will  to  teach  us  what 
we  should  believe  and  do.  This  Bible  your  Church 
has  corrupted,  and  labors  to  suppress.  You  mix  up 
with  the  pure  Word  of  God  the  Apocrypha,  which  lays 
no  claim  to  inspiration,  and  whose  internal  evidences 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  Ill 

Apocrjpha.  Notes.  India-rubber  traditions. 

are  fatal  to  such  a  claim.  I  need  here  only  mention 
the  recommendation  of  the  angel  in  Tobit,  to  make 
smoke  out  of  the  heart  and  liver  of  a  fish  to  scare 
devils  out  of  men  !  And  yet  this  Apocrypha  is  of 
more  use  to  you  than  all  the  Bible  besides.  You  mu- 
tilate the  Ten  Commandments  written  on  stone  by  the 
finger  of  God !  You  mistranslate  the  Scriptures  in 
numerous  passages,  to  bring  out  your  peculiar  doc- 
trines, or  to  conceal  its  testimony  against  them ;  and 
where  the  point  of  Scripture  can  not  be  broken  or 
blunted,  you  put  a  note  at  the  bottom  in  explanation. 
And  what  notes !  Take  the  following  as  an  illustra- 
tion, appended  to  Rom.,  iv.,  7  :  "  Blessed  are  they 
whose  iniquities  arc  forgiven,  and  whose  sins  are  cov- 
ered." "  That  is.  Blessed  are  those  who,  by  doing  pen- 
ance, have  obtained  pardon  and  remission  of  their  sins, 
and  also  arc  covered — that  is,  newly  covered  with  the 
habit  of  grace,  and  vested  with  the  stole  of  charity." 
Can  there  be  any  thing  more  luminous  or  edifying? 
Nor  is  the  work  of  corruption  yet  done.  You  superadd 
to  all  this  your  traditions,  which,  like  a  piece  of  India- 
rubber,  you  can  stretch  or  contract  to  suit  your  pur- 
pose. Nor  can  the  Bible,  when  all  tbis  is  done,  be  put 
into  promi.scuous  circulation,  lest,  with  all  these  addi- 
tions and  corruptions,  .some  might  understand  it  as 
teaching  some  things  in  opjiosition  to  popery !  You 
tell  the  poor  Irishman  that  his  .spade  and  hod  are  bet- 
ter suitf'd  to  him  than  the  Bible,  and  the  poor  Irish- 
woman that  .Mho  had  better  k(;op  at  her  broom  and 
wash-tub  than  trouble  herself  about  the  Gospels! 
When  you  corrupt  the  Bible  to  the  extent  of  your  abil- 


112  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

Mistake  of  God.  A  sail.  Why  stop  at  seven  ? 

ity — when  you  add  to  it  every  thing  you  can  or  dare, 
even  then  you  keep  it  from  the  people  I  Why  thus 
fearful  of  the  Bible  ?  You  seem  to  act  as  if  God  made 
an  awful  mistake  in  giving  the  Bible  to  any— save  the 
priests ! 

Now,  sir,  how  far  all  this  bears  upon  the  question 
whether  yours  is  a  church  of  Christ,  I  submit  to  your 
own  decision.  As  far  as  you  can,  you  strive  to  sup- 
plant the  Bible  as  the  only  rule  of  faith  ;  and  as  far  as 
I  am  concerned,  I  would  as  soon  strive  to  sail  from 
England  to  Ireland  on  St.  Patrick's  milestone  as  strive 
to  get  to  heaven  by  that  which  you  would  give  me  as 
a  substitute  for  the  Bible ;  but  I  wish  not  to  forestall 
your  decision. 

The  sacraments,  instituted  in  condescension  to  our 
weakness,  are  outward  and  sensible  signs  of  inward 
and  spiritual  grace.  These,  as  the  Bible,  you  have  en- 
larged and  corrupted.  Christ  and  his  apostles  left  us 
but  two ;  you  multiply  thezn  by  three,  and  carry  one. 
I  only  wonder  how  your  ingenuity  permitted  you  to 
stop  at  seven  !  Here  you  have  allowed  a  Dr.  Deacon, 
a  dull  Englishman,  and,  I  believe,  a  Protestant  in  the 
bargain,  to  surpass  you.  Pie  adds  exorcism,  the  white 
g-armetit,  a  taste  of  milk  and  honey,  k,c.  How  easily 
you  might  have  gone  on  to  seven,  or  even  seventy 
times  seven !  But,  in  addition  to  multiplying,  you 
have  most  grievously  corrupted  the  two  that  are  taught 
us  in  the  New  Testament.  In  baptism  you  dip  or  pour 
three  times:  where  is  this  taught?  Ordinarily  you 
permit  it  only  to  be  administered  in  churches  which 
have  fonts,  the  water  of  which  is  to  be  blessed  every 


TO    BISHOP    HUGHES.  113 

Where  get  this  ?  Miserable  exorcism.  Exalted  faith. 

year  on  the  vigils  of  Easter  and  Whitsunday  !  Where 
do  you  get  this  ?  Where  is  your  warrant  for  the  ab- 
surd practice  of  godfathers  and  godmothers  ?  The  priest 
blows  three  times  upon  the  face  of  the  person  to  be 
baptized,  saying,  "  Depart  out  of  him  or  her,  0  unclean 
spirit,  and  give  place  to  the  Holy  Ghost :"  where  did 
you  get  this  ?  He  then  puts  a  grain  of  blessed  salt 
into  the  mouth ;  then  he  exorcises  the  unclean  spirit, 
because  the  devil  must  go  out  before  the  person  is  in- 
troduced into  the  Church  !  then  he  wets  his  finger  with 
his  spittle,  and  touches,  first,  the  ears,  saying,  "  Eph- 
phatlia;"  then  his  nostrils,  saying,  "Unto  the  odor  of 
sweetness."  "  Be  thou  put  to  flight,  0  devil  I"  And 
when  baptized,  a  white  cloth  is  put  on  his  head,  and  a 
candle  in  his  hand.  Now  whence  all  these  things  ?  Is 
this  a  heathen  ceremony  or  Christian  baptism  ? 

Bad  as  all  this  is,  it  is  strong  common  sense  when 
compared  with  your  corruption  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 
The  bread  and  wine  are  rejected  for  a  wafer ;  that  wa- 
fer is  converted  into  God ;  the  wafer-god  is  first  wor- 
shiped, and  then  eaten !  and  to  believe  all  this  shows 
great  exaltation  of  faith  and  piety  I  Some  things  would 
appear  very  pious  were  they  not  so  absurd  and  1ml i- 
crou.'<. 

Now,  sir,  how  far  this  multiplication  and  corruption 
of  the  sacraments  of  the  Chri.'^tian  religion  enters  into 
the  (juestion  whether  or  not  yours  is  a  church  of  Christ, 
1  submit  again  to  your  own  dcci.sion. 

Nor  have  yu  j)ermitted  a  single  leading  doctrine  of 
the  Bible  to.  escape  your  efTorts  1o  pervert  them. 

The.  I'iblr,  liolds  up  (inf-  (i(;d  as  the  solo  objecl  of  n-- 


114  K  1  U  \V  A  N  '  S     LETTERS 

Objects  of  worship.  Otlior  intercessors.  The  doctrines  eorruptcil. 

ligious  worship.  You  teach  us  to  worship  the  Virgin, 
the  Host,  the  cross,  and  to  adore  angels,  departed  saints, 
rehcs,  and  even  pictures. 

The  Bible  teaches  that  our  only  access  to  Grod  is 
through  a  Redeemer,  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  made  unto 
us  of  God,  wisdom,  and  righteousness,  and  sanctifica- 
tion,  and  redemption,  and  that  through  faith  in  his 
name  we  are  made  partakers  of  the  blessings  of  his 
work  of  redemption.  You  teach  that  there  are  other 
intercessors  to  whom  we  must  apply — that  our  own 
works  are  efficacious  to  save  us — that  the  sacraments 
have  inherent  power  to  save — that  faith  in  Christ  is 
not  the  true  method  of  justification. 

The  Bible  teaches  that  we  must  be  born  again,  cre- 
ated anew  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  you  denounce  as 
a  false  and  accursed  doctrine,  and  teach  us  that  we  are 
regenerated  by  baptism,  and  kept  in  a  state  of  salva- 
tion by  confirmation,  confession,  penance,  fasts,  and 
alms. 

The  Bible  plainly  teaches  that  when  we  die  we  go  to 
heaven  or  to  hell,  like  Lazarus  and  the  rich  man  ;  that 
our  probation  is  confuied  to  the  present  state.  You 
teach  us  that  there  is  a  third  state,  Purgatory,  where 
souls  are  purified  from  the  stains  of  venial  sins,  and 
thus  prepared  for  heaven ;  and  so  on  to  the  end  of  the 
chapter. 

Such,  reverend  sir,  is  the  way  in  which  some  things 
strike  me  bearing  on  the  question  whether  yours  is  or 
is  not  a  church  of  Christ.  That  there  are  many  papists 
truly  pious,  I  believe.  But  whether  a  church  fash- 
ioned, as  is  yours,  as  to  its  external  organization  after 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  115 


The  grave  question.  Sir  Matthew  Hale. 

the  Roman  state  when  governed  by  military  despots — 
departing,  in  its  public  worship,  in  every  essential  par- 
ticular, from  that  taught  in  the  Scriptures ;  whether 
a  church  wliich  corrupts  and  suppresses  the  Bible — 
which  corrupts  its  sacraments  and  its  doctrines,  is  a 
church  of  Christ,  this — this  is  the  grave  question  which 
I  now  submit  to  your  decision.  It  is  said  that  a  ques- 
tion involving  a  vast  amount  of  property  was  once  sub- 
mitted to  Sir  Matthew  Hale.  Before  giving  liis  opin- 
ion, he  was  approached  by  the  lordly  defendant  in  the 
case  with  a  bribe.  He  repulsed  him  with  great  indig- 
nation. His  lordship  complained  of  him  to  the  king, 
and  the  reply  of  his  majesty  was,  "  Sir  Matthew  makes 
his  decisions  without  fear  or  favor :  he  would  treat  mo 
in  the  same  way." 

All  I  ask  of  you  is  to  decide  the  above  question  with 
the  honesty  of  Sir  Matthew. 

With  the  above  views  in  reference  to  your  priests 
and  your  Church,  you  need  not  wonder  when  Protest- 
ants denounce  both  as  they  do. 

AVith  respect,  yours,  Kirwaw. 


116  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

Messiah's  kingdom.  Prophecies  1'iiity  of  (caching. 


LETTER   XL 

The  Efl'ccts  of  Popery  on  Liberty,  Knowledge,  Happiness,  true 

Religion. 

My  dear  Sir, — In  my  last  letter  I  submitted  to  your 
decision  the  question  whether  or  not  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic is  a  church  of  Christ,  after  briefly  stating  to  you 
how  some  things  bearing  on  its  truthful  decision  strike 
me.  I  design  the  present  letter  to  have  no  very  remote 
bearing  upon  the  same  question,  and  would  ask  you 
to  give  it  the  degree  of  consideration  to  which,  in  can- 
dor, you  may  deem  its  statements  entitled. 

In  reading  the  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament,  I 
find  that  they  all  speak  with  the  inost  glowing  antici- 
pations of  the  yet  future  kingdom  of  Messiah.  That 
kingdom  was  to  produce  the  civil,  moral,  and  spir- 
itual renovation  of  the  world.  When  I  turn  over  to 
the  New  Testament,  I  find  that,  on  the  birth  of  Mes- 
siah, the  angel  of  the  Lord  stated  to  the  shepherds 
that  he  came  to  bring  them  good  tidings  of  great  joy 
which  should  be  to  all  people.  And  having  announced 
the  birth  of  the  Savior  in  the  city  of  David,  he  was  sud- 
denly joined  by  a  multitude  of  angels,  singing  "  Glory 
to  Grod  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth  peace,  good- will  to- 
ward men."  The  Old  Testament  and  the  New — patri- 
archs, prophets,  and  apostles,  all  unite  in  teaching  us 
that  the  cfTcct  of  Christianity  upon  our  world  would  be 
to  restore  it  to  its  primeval  state,  and  to  reinstamp  upon 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  117 

Fruits.  Human  liberty.  Mental  liberty. 

the  heart  of  man  the  lost  image  of  his  Creator.  Now, 
how  far  has  popery  fulfilled  these  predictions,  and  the 
reasonable  expectations  of  the  faithful  founded  on 
them  ?  In  otjier  words,  what  are  the  fruits  of  popery  ? 
Our  Savior  tells  us  that  a  good  tree  yields  good  fruit — 
a  bad  tree,  bad  fruit.  And  with  this  test  in  view,  my 
object  in  the  present  letter  is  to  state  to  you  how  some 
things  strike  me. 

What  has  been  the  effect  of  popery  upon  human  lib- 
erty ?  Permit  me  to  use  the  word  "  liberty"  in  its 
widest  sense.  As  to  civil  liberty,  it  has  been  its  un- 
changing enemy.  It  has  never  permitted  a  spark  of 
hbcrty  to  glow  for  an  hour  when  it  could  extinguish  it. 
There  is  not  in  Europe  at  the  present  hour — perhaps 
not  on  earth — a  greater  civil  despot  than  the  Pope. 
The  man  that,  in  Italy,  writes  a  page  or  makes  a 
speech  in  favor  of  liberty,  must  fly  the  kingdom,  or  be 
dragged  to  a  dungeon.  And  we  arc  to  judge  of  popery, 
not  by  its  pliability  where  it  can  not  rule,  but  by  the 
way  in  which  it  shows  its  heart  Avhere  it  can  do  so 
without  let  or  hindcrancc.  Kings  as  well  as  people 
have  groaned  under  its  tyranny.  Ilciu-y  IV.  of  Grer- 
many  was  rnadr;  by  the  Pope  to  stand  throe  days  in  the 
open  air,  with  bare  head  and  feet.  Frcdcrink  1.  was 
made  \m  hold  his  stirrup.  He  caused  Henry  11.  of  En- 
gland to  be  scourg(;d  on  the  tomb  of 'i'hoiiias  a  Bcck(;t. 
And  the  present  state  of  Spain,  Austria,  Italy,  shows 
the  cflcets  of  popery  fm  civil  liberty. 

It  is  eqnally  the  foe  of  mental  liberty.  The  Bible  is 
without  any  authority  save  what  your  Church  gives  it. 
And  the  Bible   must  teach  nothing  save  what  your 


118  KIR  WAN's     LKTTERS 

Galileo.  Human  kiiouicilgc.  Golden  Age. 

Church  allows.  And  man  must  believe  nothing  save 
what  the  priest  permits.  And  philosophy  must  teach 
notliing  save  what  the  Church  sanctions.  You  know 
that  for  this  last  ofTense  Galileo  was  sent  to  study  as- 
tronomy in  prison.  Pure  popery  and  real  liberty  nev- 
er have  breathed,  and  never  can,  the  same  atmosphere. 
The  principle  of  your  Church  is  to  allow  nothing  that 
bows  not  to  its  yoke. 

What  has  been  the  effect  of  popery  upon  human 
knowledge  ?  When  Christianity,  like  a  new  sun,  ro.se 
upon  the  world,  there  was  much  that  might  be  called 
education  in  the  Roman  empire.  The  obvious  effect 
of  Christianity  was  to  extend  it.  After  the  lapse  of 
some  ages,  popery,  by  gradual  stages,  crept,  serpent- 
like, to  the  high  places  of  power.  How  soon  afterward 
the  lights  of  learning  go  out — ^how  soon  the  Dark  Ages 
commence,  and  roll  on  as  if  they  were  never  to  end ! 
And  those  centuries  of  darkness  form  the  Golden  Age 
of  your  Church.  And  what  spirit  did  it  manifest  on 
the  revival  of  learning  in  Europe  after  the  sacking  of 
Constantinople,  and  at  the  Reformation  ?  Leo  X.  pro- 
hibited every  book  translated  from  the  Greek  and  He- 
brew, This  blow  was  aimed  at  the  Bible.  He  for- 
bade the  reading  of  every  book  published  by  the  Re- 
formers. He  excommunicated  all  who  read  an  heret- 
ical work.  The  Inquisitors  prohibited  every  book  pub- 
lished by  sixty-two  different  printers,  and  all  books 
printed  by  any  printer  who  had  ever  publi.shed  a  book 
of  heresy !  Nor  has  one  of  these  prohibitions  ever 
been  recalled.  At  this  hour,  the  noblest  products  of 
human  genius   are  under  the  ban  of  your  Church, 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  119 

National  ignorance.  Resealed.  Happiness  of  our  race. 

and  the  Index  Expurgatorius  is  in  full  operation  ai. 
Rome  I 

And  what  has  been  the  effect  of  all  this  upon  human 
knowledge  ?  Look  into  the  countries  for  an  answer 
where  your  Church  rules  undisturbed.  The  nobles 
and  the  people  in  Spain,  Portugal,  Austria,  Sardinia, 
Sicily,  are  sunk  into  almost  the  same  state  of  igno- 
rance. Upon  the  intellectual  degradation  of  Catholic 
Ireland  I  have  already  dwelt.  The  Book  of  books, 
which  the  Lamb  died  to  unseal,  your  Church  has  re- 
sealed  ;  it  has  laid  an  embargo  upon  human  knowl- 
edge ;  it  allows  the  people  to  read  only  what  it  per- 
mits, and  it  permits  only  what  tends  to  rivet  its  chains, 
and  to  perjietuate  the  darkness  which  is  its  natural 
element.  When  the  Reformation  occurred,  the  retro- 
grade movement  of  the  world  toward  ignorance,  and 
barbarism,  and  idolatry  had  almost  been  completed. 
Had  it  not  occurred,  a  radiance  might  continue  to  gild 
the  high  places  of  the  earth  after  the  Gospel  sun  had 
set — a  twilight  might  be  protracted  for  a  few  ages,  in 
which  a  few  might  grope  their  way  to  heaven,  but  each 
age  would  have  come  wrajiped  in  a  deeper  and  yet 
deeper  gloom,  until  impenetrable  darkness  had  fallen 
on  the  world.  I'lven  the  (b^gree  of  knowledge  wliicli 
has  obtained  in  the  papal  world,  it  owes  to  the  Refor- 
mation. 

And  what  lias  been  the  cfTect  of  popf-ry  ujion  the 
happincas  of  our  race.  ?  This  is  a  question  of  wide 
bearing,  yet  I  can  do  little  more  than  glance  at  it. 
Has  it  ev(!r  laid  out  its  energies  for  th(;  promotion  of 
human  liajipincss?     If  so,  when  and  where?     Has  it 


120  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     LETTERS 

Always  opposed.  Fearful  pathway.  Its  cominissioii. 

not,  on  the  other  hand,  set  itself  in  opposition  to  every 
thing  calculated  to  promote  it  ?  Does  general  intelli- 
gence promote  it  ?  Your  Church  has  always  opposed 
it.  Does  the  free  circulation  of  the  Word  of  Gfod  pro- 
mote it  ?  You  have  opposed  this  also.  Does  the  in- 
culcation of  pure  religion  promote  it  ?  You  have  pois- 
oned or  closed  up  all  its  fountains.  Does  advancing 
civilization  promote  it?  Your  efforts  are  untiring  to 
reverse  its  wheels,  and  to  roll  us  back  to  the  darkness 
of  the  Dark  Ages,  whose  very  light  was  darkness.  But 
what  can  I  say  more  ?  for  the  time  would  fail  me  to 
tell  of  your  monasteries  and  nunneries,  of  the  wars 
wliich  popery  has  excited,  of  its  Crusades,  of  the  bitter 
jealousies  it  has  sown  between  states,  of  the  oceans  of 
blood  it  has  shed  to  obtain  its  objects,  of  the  Inquisi- 
tions it  has  erected  to  torture  the  unbelieving,  and  of 
the  way  and  manner  in  which  it  has  caused  those  of 
whom  the  world  was  not  worthy  to  have  trial  of  cruel 
mockings  and  scourgings — yea,  moreover,  of  bonds  and 
imprisonment ;  how  it  caused  them  to  be  stoned,  to  be 
sawn  asunder,  to  be  slain  with  the  sword,  to  wander 
about  in  deserts  and  in  mountains,  in  dens  and  caves 
of  the  earth.  Oh,  sir,  the  pathway  of  popery  through 
the  world  is  marked  by  the  blood  and  bones  of  its  vic- 
tims. It  has  gone  into  the  earth  feeling  that  Joshua's 
commission  on  entering  Canaan  was  in  its  pocket,  and 
that  all  who  questioned  its  authority  were  Hittites  and 
Amorites ;  and,  almost  without  a  figure  of  speech,  it 
can  be  said  that  the  nations  which  it  found  as  the  gar- 
den of  the  Lord  it  converted  into  a  howling  wilderness. 
I  know  not  that  human  happiness  or  human  improve- 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  121 

Christian  charity.  Witnesses.  Plague-spots. 

ment  have  ever  had  a  more  determined  foe  than  pop- 
ery. 

"VMiat  is  the  influence  of  popery  as  to  the  exercise 
of  Christian  charity  ?  By  charity  I  mean,  not  ahns- 
giving,  nor  yet  the  love  of  God  ^vhic]l  the  Spirit  in- 
spires in  the  soul,  but  that  grace  which  induces  love 
to  those  who  difl'er  from  us,  and  to  cast  a  mantle  over 
their  defects.  The  Bible  teaches  us  to  do  good  to  all 
as  we  find  opportunity — to  love  our  enemies — to  treat 
with  kindness  those  who  despitefuUy  persecute  us. 
How  does  your  Church  obey  these  injunctions  of  Christ 
the  Lord  ?  Let  your  Inquisitions,  your  auto  da  fe^s, 
your  Bartholomew's  day,  your  Irish  massacre,  your 
yearly  anathemas  against  heretics,  your  consigning  to 
perdition  all  beyond  the  pale  of  your  Church,  answer. 
All  non-papists  you  place  beyond  the  pale  of  mercy ; 
you  refuse  their  bodies  Christian  burial,  if  such  9/our 
burial  can  be  called ;  you  convert  into  the  bitterest 
enemies  of  the  man  that  becomes  a  Bible  Christian 
those  of  his  own  household ;  you  make  the  poor  Irish 
servant  to  feel  that  his  master  and  her  mistress  arc  the 
enemies  of  God,  however  pious,  who.sc  reading  of  the 
Bibl<;  and  whose  prayers  to  heaven  can  not  be  hfard 
without  committing  great  sin  ;  you  enact  a  ceremonial 
law,  and  proclaim  that  all  who  submit  not  to  it  are 
speckled  with  jilagiu'-spots ;  and  hence  your  priests, 
whcrovf^r  locat<'d  in  Protestant  communities,  in.stcad 
of  going  al)out  as  men  to  promote  tlie  general  welfare, 
move  about  as  spectres,  as  if  afraid  of  the  ii^bt  of  day; 
here  abstrnrting  a  child  from  a  Sunday-school,  there 
burning  a  I'liblc  ;  here  poi.soning  the  mind  of  a  servant 

F 


122  K  1  U  \\'  A  N  '  S     I,  E  T  T  K  K  S 

How  it  looks.  True  religion.  Uewildered. 

against  his  master,  and  there  that  of  a  maid  against 
her  mistress,  and  seeking  to  place  all,  save  his  own  un- 
lettered followers,  like  the  lepers  of  Samaria,  without 
the  city  of  God.  Does  this  look  like  the  spirit  of 
Christ  ? 

What  is  the  influence  of  popery  on  true  religion  ? 
To  this  point  I  have  already  spoken.  I  have  told  you, 
sir,  how  it  has  corrupted  our  rule  of  faith,  and  the  sac- 
raments, and  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible.  This  is  but 
the  theory  of  the  matter.  Oh,  how  can  I  speak  of  its 
practical  effects  ?  The  religion  of  Christ  it  has  con- 
verted into  a  system  of  idolatry,  in  which  Grod  and 
witches,  the  Bible  and  traditions,  canons,  decretals,  the 
worship  of  God  and  of  saints,  the  mediation  of  Christ 
and  of  Mary,  prayer  and  scourging,  pious  deeds,  pen- 
ances, and  processions,  are  all  of  like  authority  and  like 
efficacy  I 

The  mind  of  the  poor  papist  it  fills,  not  with  light 
and  love,  but  with  darkness  and  fear.  It  closes  to  him 
the  way  to  heaven  through  the  blood  of  Christ,  and 
opens  it  through  the  fires  of  Purgatory.  Leaving  him 
in  doubt  as  to  where  he  will  succeed  best,  he  now 
prays  for  pardon  to  God — now  to  the  Virgin — now  to 
Peter  or  Paul — now  to  some  old  picture  almost  oblit- 
erated by  age,  believing  alike  the  truths  of  Scripture 
and  the  absurdities  of  your  system,  and  knowing  little 
of  either. 

It  impresses  the  poor  papist  with  the  idea  that  relig- 
ion consists,  not  in  love  to  God  and  man,  but  in  exter- 
nal submission  to  rites  and  forms.  Hence  the  Spaniard 
will  go  to  confession  with  his  dagger  under  his  man- 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  123 

Mass  and  pot-bouse.  But  little  dilTerencc. 

tie,  and  the  poor,  generous  Irishman  will  go  from  the 
Mass  and  Missal  to  the  pot-house,  and  from  the  confes- 
sion-box  to  the  card-table  and  the  boxing  match  I  and 
your  Inquisitors  have  gone  out  from  your  Eucharist  tc 
kindle  the  fires  which  consumed  your  heretics  and  ojir 
martyrs,  and  which  illumined  their  pathway  to  glory  I 

But  I  must  stop,  lest  my  emotions  swell  beyond  duq 
bounds. 

These,  reverend  sir,  are  some,  and  but  some,  of  the 
fruits  of  your  .system.  How  do  they  appear  to  you 
when  thus  brought  together  ?  Is  the  tree  which  bears 
these  fruits  good  or  bad  ?  Has  popery  in  any  one  par- 
ticular, in  any  one  country,  or  in  any  age,  ever  pro- 
duced the  results  whi(;h  prophets  and  apostles  have 
told  us  the  religion  of  Messiah  would  produce  ?  If  not, 
are  not  popery  and  Cliristianity  not  only  diflcrent,  but 
antagonist  .'systems  ?  Popery  is  paganism  under  a  new 
name,  and  the  difference  between  their  priests  is  as 
little  as  is  the  difference  between  the  systems. 

With  resjxict,  yours,  Kmww. 


124  KIKWA^'S     LETTERS 

First  iipiuarancc.  Wliai  think  you?  Were  it  not. 


LETTER    XII. 

Conclusion  of  the  whole  matter. 

My  dkar  Sir, — The  letters  which  I  have  had  the 
honor  of  addressing  to  you  I  must  now  bring  to  a  close. 
I  have  stated  to  you,  with  all  frankness  and  sincerity, 
my  reasons  for  leaving  the  Church  in  which  I  was 
born,  baptized,  and  confirmed,  and  which,  on  the  most 
mature  deliberation,  yet  prevent  me  from  returning  to 
it.  I  can  assure  you,  on  the  word  of  an  Irishman,  and, 
which  is  far  more,  on  the  word  of  a  Christian,  that  I 
have  had  no  end  in  view  but  the  exposure  of  error  and 
the  development  of  the  truth.  Thirty  years  have  al- 
most run  their  course  since  I  left  your  Church ;  and 
although  not  utterly  unknown  to  the  men  of  our  age, 
nor  un.solicited,  these  letters  form  my  first  appearance 
on  popery.  Unless  some  unexpected  ripple  is  excited 
on  the  current  of  my  feelings,  they  will  probably  form 
my  last. 

Now,  dear  sir,  what  think  you  of  these  reasons  ? 
Are  they  or  are  they  not  sufficient  to  excuse,  to  forbid 
my  return  to  your  Church  ?  Had  I  an  ear  sufficiently 
acute  to  hear  the  decision  of  your  conscience,  I  believe 
in  my  soul  that  it  pronounces  them  sufficient.  Yes,  I 
believe  that,  were  it  not  for  your  sad  doctrine  of  infal- 
libility, which  stereotypes  and  perpetuates  every  ab- 
surdity, you,  and  multitudes  like  you,  mon  of  sense 


TO     BISIIOl'     HUGHES.  125 

Firebrand.  Slow  progress.  Appeal. 

and  education,  would  rise  and  cast  a  firebrand  amid 
the  rubbish  which  ignorance  and  wickedness  have,  in 
the  progress  of  ages,  collected  around  your  Church,  and 
send  its  smoke  heavenward  like  the  smoke  of  a  fur- 
nace. But,  sir,  I  am  not  ignorant  of  the  slow  progress 
of  truth  against  bigotry — of  the  great  difficulty  of  ex-' 
changing  bad  opinions  and  customs,  hallowed  by  usage, 
for  better  ones  ;  nor  have  I  read  history  so  inattentive- 
ly as  not  to  learn  from  it  the  great  difficulty  of  con- 
verting high  ecclesiastics  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth. 
The  mitre  has  shielded  many  a  head  from  the  weapons 
of  sense  and  logic ;  and  under  the  surplice  many  a 
conscience  has  gone  to  rest  that,  without  it,  would  have 
contended  to  the  death  for  the  faith  once  delivered  to 
the  saints.  1  must  not  forget  that  it  was  the  high- 
priest  who  occupied  Moses'  seat  that  put  our  Lord  to 
death  ;  nor  can  I  forget  that  those  claiming  to  be  the 
successors  of  Peter  and  the  vicegerents  of  Christ  have 
been  the  greatest  persecutors  of  the  saints.  They  have 
shed  Christian  blood  enough  for  pope  and  cardinals  to 
swim  in.  "Would  to  God  that  you  could  sec  things  as 
I  see  them  ;  your  influence  would  be  strong  in  freeing 
our  fellow-countrymen  from  that  bondage  of  the  soul 
which  most  degrades  them.  But,  despairing  of  this,  I 
turn  from  you  to  the  victims  of  your  system. 

Ro.MAN  Catholics,  and  especially  Irish  Roman  Cath- 
olics, to  you  I  now  turn.  bVoiii  your  bishop,  whom, 
with  you,  T  respect  as  a  man,  though  T  oppose  his  re- 
ligious principles,  J  appeal  to  yri.  With  you  is  the 
power  to  bring  to  a  perpftual  r-nd  that  .system  of  ghost- 
ly tyranny,  the  most  oppressive  that  man  has  over  fell. 


126  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     LETTERS 


Jugglery  \vill  cease.  Sympathies.  Tut  away  childish  things. 

Subjects  and  sceptres  depart  together  ;  the  farce  of  the 
Mass  will  soon  end  when  there  are  none  to  witness  it 
or  ])ay  for  it,  and  popes,  bishops,  and  priests  will  soon 
seek  an  honest  calling  when  there  are  none  to  be  edi- 
fied by  their  jugglery — when  "the  alms  and  the  suf- 
frages of  the  faithful"  cease  to  flow. 

Will  you  give  an  honest  perusal  to  these  letters,  and 
candidly  weigh  the  reasons  and  the  arguments  which 
they  contain  ?  That  I  was  born  in  Ireland  is  my  pride. 
My  sympathies  are  all  with  Ireland  in  its  civil,  social, 
and  moral  degradation.  The  blood  of  my  kindred,  shed 
to  defend  it  against  oppression,  mingles  with  its  soil. 
Your  present  feelings  as  to  your  Church  I  have  had, 
and  in  all  their  force.  I  can  entirely  appreciate  them. 
I  have  cordially  hated  Protestantism  and  Protestants, 
and  I  have  seen  the  time  when  I  regarded  the  man  as 
my  personal  enemy  who  would  vitter  a  word  against 
my  religion  ;  but  those  were  the  days  of  my  youth  and 
of  my  ignorance.  When  I  became  a  man,  I  put  away 
childi.sli  things ;  and  my  reasons  for  so  doing  are  spread 
out  before  you  in  these  letters,  and  all  I  ask  of  you  is 
kindly  and  candidly  to  consider  them,  and  then  to  act 
accordingly.  If  they  are  not  sufficiently  cogent  to 
cause  you,  as  they  have  caused  me,  to  leave  the  Church 
of  Rome,  then  you  will  have  my  entire  consent  to  be 
oppressed,  fleeced,  and  ridden  by  your  priests  as  long 
as  you  can  bear  the  operation. 

Yet  permit  me  to  entreat  you  to  give  to  the  subject 
of  these  letters  the  attention  which  it  demands.  I 
know  that  many  of  you  are  sincere,  but  this  is  no  test 
of  truth.      I  Icnow  many  of  you  to  be  devout,  but  .so 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  127 

Yet  strangers.  Robbed.  Assert  your  rights. 

are  ilohammedans  and  pagans.  I  know  that  many 
of  you  arc  prepared  to  make  any  sacrifice  which  relig- 
ion demands ;  but  we  may  give  all  our  goods  to  feed 
the  poor,  and  our  bodies  to  be  burned,  and  yet  be  stran- 
gers to  the  only  true  religion.  J\Iy  heart  is  deeply  af- 
fected in  view  of  your  state.  A  noble  people,  you  are 
shut  out  from  the  joys  to  which  God  invites  you.  You 
are  hoodwinked  and  manacled  by  a  system  of  the 
grossest  fraud  and  delusion ;  you  are  denied  the  com- 
mon birthrisrht  of  a  citizen  of  the  world — seeing  with 
your  own  eyes  and  hearing  with  your  own  ears.  You 
are  robbed  of  the  only  volume  that  can  guide  you,  and 
are  forbidden  to  enter  the  way  of  life,  save  through  the 
gate  which  is  guarded  by  your  priests.  Oh,  suffer  the 
entreaties  of  one  who  sufl'ercd  as  you  now  do  under  the 
galling  chains  of  papal  tyranny !  Break  the  fetters 
which  priests  have  forged,  and  in  which  they  have 
bound  you.  You  are  now  in  a  land  where  you  may 
laugh  at  the  excommunications  and  anathemas  of 
popes,  prelates,  and  priests — where  curses  fall  only  on 
the  heads  of  those  who  utter  them.  God  has  given 
you  his  word  ;  let  no  man  filch  it  from  yon.  G.od  has 
given  you  a  mind  to  think  for  yourselves ;  let  no  man 
usurj)  the  power  of  thinking  for  you.  God  invites  you 
to  himself,  to  receive  at  his  own  hand  pardon  and  for- 
giveness. Oh,  submit  not  to  go  and  jiay  for  these,  and 
on  your  knees,  to  a  priest  who  only  cares  to  get  your 
money  I  Go  to  the  Bible  for  your  religion.  Receive 
nothing  as  religious  trutli  which  is  not  there  taught, 
and  your  mental,  .'social,  and  moral  regeneration  is  com- 
menced. 


128  K  I  K  W  A  N  '  S     l<  E  T  T  E  R  S 


Deserter.  In  bad  company.  Tlie  oldest  religion. 

But  you  meet  this  appeal  with  the  objection  that  I 
am  a  deserter  from  your  Church,  and  that  I  am  not, 
therefore,  to  be  heard.  If  your  priests  take  any  notice 
at  all  of  these  letters,  I  Ivuow  well  the  changes  they 
will  ring  upon  this  idea.  But  was  not  Peter  a  desert- 
er from  the  Jewish  Church,  and  must  he  not  be  heard 
on  that  account?  Must  a  man  who  renounces  error 
never  be  heard  by  those  who  continue  in  it?  And 
what  think  you  of  the  persecution  by  your  Church  of 
those  who  renounce  its  authority  ?  To  say  the  least 
of  it,  it  is  in  bad  company.  The  Jews  put  Christ  to 
death  for  deserting  the  faith  of  Moses ;  the  Moham- 
medans put  to  death  any  man  of  their  number  who 
rejects  the  Koran  for  Christ ;  the  Hindoos  expel  from 
their  society  all  who  reject  their  religion  for  ours ;  and 
popery  has  shed  in  rivers  the  blood  of  those  who  could 
not  but  reject  its  follies  and  absurdities.  In  this  hap- 
py land,  the  bull  of  a  pope  is  as  harmless  as  a  lamb, 
and  the  thunders  of  the  Vatican  have  no  lightning  that 
injures.  Priests  may  prejudice  you  against  these  let- 
ters, but  they  are  the  interested  party ;  their  craft  is 
in  danger ;  and  all  I  ask  of  you  is  to  give  my  reasons 
the  candid  consideration  which  you  owe  to  yourself, 
and  which  their  importance  requires. 

But  you  may  ask,  What !  do  you  wish  me  to  give 
up  my  religion  ?  Is  not  mine  the  oldest  rehgion  ? 
Here,  I  well  know,  is  the  invincible  argument  with 
many  of  you,  but  has  it  any  weight  ?  Are  the  oldest 
things  always  the  best?  If  so,  then  the  Jews  were 
right  in  resisting  Christianity,  and  the  pagans  arc  right 
in  clinging  to  their  false  systems,  and  you  do  wrong  in 


TO     13 1  i>  H  O  P     HUGHES.  129 


Popery  and  Moliammedanism.  Not  the  oldest. 

ever  exchanging  an  old  garment  or  an  old  house  for  a 
new  one.  But  is  popery  the  oldest  religion  ?  Oh  no, 
Christianity  is  older.  Popery  and  Mohammedanism 
arose  at  the  same  time,  and  centuries  after  the  estab- 
hshment  of  Christianity.  They  are  alike  corruptions 
of  the  rehgion  of  Jesus,  though  the  Prophet  has  apos- 
tatized farther  than  the  Pope.  They  hoth  appeal  to 
the  senses,  and  are  both  idolatrous.  If  the  Pope  has 
his  holy  water,  the  Prophet  has  his  holy  Vi-eW.  If  the 
one  has  his  holy  bones,  and  coats,  and  relics,  the  other 
has  his  holy  pieces  of  tapestry  from  the  temple  of  Mec- 
ca. They  have  alike  their  pilgrimages,  their  senseless 
repetition  of  prayers,  their  Lents,  their  penances,  and 
their  external  symbols,  which  alike  adorn  the  church 
and  the  mosque.  And  if  the  papist  can  object  to  Chris- 
tianity, saying.  Is  not  mine  the  oldest  religion  ?  then 
can  the  ]\Iohammedan  do  the  same. 

But  yours  is  not  the  oldest  religion.  I  could  here 
give  you  the  time,  did  the  limits  of  a  letter  permit, 
when  the  distinguishing  doctrines  of  your  Church  were 
introduced.  The  celibacy  of  the  clergy  came  into  the 
Church  in  the  fourth  century ;  Purgatory  appeared  in 
the  seventh,  and  was  afhrmed  in  the  twelfth ;  auricu- 
lar confessions  and  the  worsliip  of  the  Host  in  the  thir- 
teenth ;  and  so  on  to  the  end  of  the  chapter.*  And 
in.stead  of  wishing  you  to  give  up  the  oldest  religion, 
we  wish  you  only  to  give  up  popery  for  Christianity ; 
to  give  up  the  new  and  to  return  to  the  old.     All  that 

•  Of  the  way  in  which  papal  doctrines  have  hccn  added,  we  have  an 
illustration  in  the  recently  pubhuhed  dogma  of  iIk;  Ininiaculafc  f'on- 
c'Option. 

F.2 


1  30  IC  I  11  W  A  N  '  S     L  i:  T  T  E  R  S 

As  in  ilie  Bible.  AUvicc.  The  true  way. 

I  have  done  myself,  and  all  that  I  desire  you  to  do,  is 
to  lay  aside  every  thing  that  Pope,  bishops,  and  priests 
have  added  to  the  religion  of  Jesus,  and  to  embrace 
that  religion  just  as  it  is  taught  in  the  Bible. 

Convinced  that  you  have  been  deceived  by  those  to 
whom  you  have  been  looking  for  guidance — that  priests 
have  sought  your  money  more  than  your  salvation — 
that  instead  of  bread  they  have  given  you  stones,  and 
for  eggs  serpents — that  they  have  sought  to  brutalize 
instead  of  enlightening  you — to  enslave  instead  of  ele- 
vating you  to  the  liberty  with  which  Christ  makes  his 
people  free  :  do  any  of  you  inquire  as  to  the  course  best 
for  you  to  pursue  ?  If  you  will  take  the  advice  of  one 
that  has  gone  before  you  in  the  way,  it  is  cheerfully 
given.  Think  not  of  giving  up  all  rehgion  because  of 
the  deceptions  of  popery.  This  was  one  of  my  mis- 
takes. Take  the  Bible  for  your  guide  ;  that  will  not 
deceive  you.  It  teaches  you  that  you  are  a  sinner ; 
this  you  should  believe  and  feel.  It  teaches  you  that 
Christ  died  for  sinners,  and  that  his  blood  cleanses 
from  all  sin,  and  that  to  escape  the  wrath  and  curse 
of  God  due  to  you  for  sin,  the  great  and  the  only  pre- 
requisites are  repentance  toward  God  and  faith  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Give  up  your  Missal  for  the  Bi- 
ble ;  confess  your  sins,  not  to  your  priests,  but  to  your 
God ;  look  for  pardon  and  meetness  for  heaven,  not  to 
priestly  ablutions,  and  eating  wafers,  and  extreme  unc- 
tions, but  to  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ,  received 
by  faith,  and,  in  spite  of  popes,  prelates,  and  priests, 
life,  eternal  life,  is  yours. 

Wishing  and  praying  for  you  all  that  deliverance 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  131 

Good  wishes. 

from  popish  thraldom  in  which  I  rejoice,  and  that 
Gospel  hope  of  future  blessedness  which  is  my  stay 
and  comfort  in  this  vale  of  tears, 

I  am,  with  great  respect,  yours,  Kirwan. 


SECOND    SERIES. 


INTRODUCTION 

TO    THE    SECOND    SERIES. 


Success  of  former  series. 


The  Letters  in  the  New  York  Observer,  addressed  to 
Bishop  Hughes,  under  the  signature  of  "  Kirwan,"  pro- 
duced, as  might  have  been  expected,  an  extraordinary 
sensation.  They  were  read,  not  by  the  bishop  only, 
nor  by  Protestants  only,  but  by  many  in  the  bosom  of 
the  Church  of  Rome,  who  were  thus  led  to  see  the  ab- 
surdity of  much  which  they  had  been  taught  to  be- 
lieve. One  edition  followed  another  in  rapid  succes- 
sion. They  were  translated  into  the  G-erman  language, 
and  published  for  the  thousands  flocking  to  our  shores 
and  speaking  that  tongue  ;  they  were  reprinted  in  En- 
gland, and  circulated  among  the  Roman  Catholics 
there  and  in  Ireland,  with  what  cfTect  we  have  yet  to 
learn. 

But  the  author,  in  assigning  to  Bishop  Hughes  the 
reasons  that  prevent  his  return  to  the  Church  in  which 
he  was  born,  baptized,  and  confirmed,  had  by  no  means 
exhausted  the  catalogue,  and  he  was  repeatedly  called 
upon  to  complete  the  work. 

Of  these  calls,  the  following,  publislu.-d  in  iln-  Ob- 
server, is  a  fair  indication  of  the  estimate  in  which  the 
former  series  was  hold,  .nid  of  the  public  desire  that 
Kirwan  would  resume  his  pen. 


136  I  N  T  11  O  U  U  C  r  ION     TO 


l,elter  lo  Kirwan. 


"  To  the  Author  of  the  Letters  on  Romanism,  lately 
addressed  to  Bishop  Hng-hes   through   the  Neiv 
York  Observer,  over  the  signature  of  Kirivan. 
II  SiR^ — Though  you  have  chosen  hitherto  to  keep  in 
the  shade  in  reference  to  the  authorship  of  these  letters, 
T  suppose  you  are  not  buried  in  so  deep  obscurity  as 
not  to  have  some  knowledge  of  what  is  passing  in  the 
world  around  you.     But  lest  you  should  chance  to  be 
less  knowing  than  might  be  presumed,  I  beg  to  state 
to  you  through  your  own  channel  of  communication, 
that  the  letters  to  w^hich  I  refer  have  been  read  by  the 
religious  community  at  large  with  a  degree  of  interest 
that  has  rarely  been  felt  in  reference  to  any  similar 
publication.     If  I  mistake  not,  the  judgment  of  the 
world  is,  that  they  are  characterized  by  a  simplicity 
and  perspicuity  that  bring  them  fairly  within  the  scope 
of  any  comprehension — by  a  force  of  thought  and  ex- 
pression which  no  reflecting  and  impartial  mind  will 
find  it  easy  to  resist — by  an  amount  of  good  nature 
and  Christian  charity  which  must  prevent  any  reason- 
able opponent  from  taking  offense  ;   and  last,  though 
not  least,  by  an  unwonted  pungency,  w^hich  is  likely, 
ere  this,  to  have  vibrated  in  a  note  of  terror  to  the  in- 
nermost heart  of  Rome.     I  believe,  in  common  with  a 
multitude  of  wiser  and  better  men,  that  these  letters 
have  as  yet  only  begun  to  fulfill  their  mission,  and  that 
those  who  live  at  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  who  are 
destined  to  live  in  coming  years,  will  look  upon  them 
as  having  had  much  to  do  in  lifting  from  the  world 
one  of  its  heaviest  curses. 

"  But  my  object  in   addressing  you   is  something 


THE     SECOND     SERIES.  137 

The  public  call. 

more  than  to  inform  you  of  that  of  which,  I  dare  say, 
you  need  no  information.  You  are  aware  that  it  is 
only  a  portion  of  the  ground  of  the  Romish  controversy 
which  your  letters  have  occupied.  There  are  many 
points  of  equal  moment  with  those  already  discussed 
which  you  have  left  untouched.  Allow  me  to  say, 
yours  is  the  hand  to  sweep  through  this  whole  domain 
of  error.  It  would  be  "an  occasion  of  deep  regret  if  you 
should  not  carry  forward  to  its  completion  a  work 
which  you  have  so  happily  begun.  The  Christian  pub- 
lic expect — may  I  not  say,  demand  it  of  you.  The  mul- 
titude who  are  yet  in  the  same  spiritual  thraldom  from 
which  you  have  escaped  demand  it.  Your  country, 
whose  political  as  well  as  religious  interests  are  threat- 
ened with  deadly  invasion,  demands  it.  The  cause  of 
an  enlightened  Christianity,  of  a  sound  and  evangeli- 
cal Protestantism,  demands  it.  There  is  a  requisition 
upon  you,  Kirwan,  which  I  am  sure  you  can  not  resist 
without  offending  against  the  mercy  that  hath  taken 
your  own  feet  out  of  the  miry  clay,  and  established 
your  goings.  May  the  Head  of  the  Church  enable  you 
suitably  to  appreciate  your  obligations  and  responsibil- 
ities. Keep  in  the  dark  if  you  will,  only  lead  others 
into  the  light  of  life  and  into  the  liberty  wherewith 
Christ  makes  his  disciples  free.  Be  assured  that  in 
makiriii  these  suggestions  T  nni  Om:  of  Many." 

(jljcdicnl  h>  these  calls,  and  impelled  by  a  .sense  of 
duty  to  his  kinsiricn  according  to  ihr.  flesh,  his  coun- 
trymen and  l)rethren,  he  has  prepared  this  second  se- 
ries in  the  same  courteous  and  conciliatory  style  of  the 


138    1  N  T  K  O  D  U  C  T  1  O  .\      1'  O     THE     SECOND     S  K  K  1  E  S. 

. # . — — ^ 

Obeys  the  jiublic  cnll. 

former,  breathing  the  same  national  sympathy  with 
Irishmen,  and  full  of  the  humor  that  betrays  the  au- 
thor's nativity,  while  it  secures  the  attention  of  the 
reader. 

Placed  in  the  hands  of  those  yet  in  the  faith  of  Bish- 
op Hughes,  these  letters  will  be  read  without  prejudice; 
and  followed,  as  I  trust  they  will  be,  with  the  enlight- 
ening and  convincing  Spirit,  they  will  work  mightily 
in  opening  the  eyes  of  those  now  wandering  in  error, 
and  leading  them  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth. 

Samuel  iRENiEus  Prime. 


SECOND    SERIES. 


LETTER    I. 

Reasons  for  this  Second  Series. — Why  addressed  to  Bishop  Hughes. 
— Evil  days  have  come  upon  Popery. 

Hope  disappointed.  The  ruffle.  Reasons. 

My  dear  Sir, — ^When  I  closed  the  letters  I  had  the 
honor  of  addressing  to  you  during  the  last  spring,  I 
fondly  hoped  that  my  part  in  the  thickening  contro- 
versy on  Romanism  in  our  country  had  closed  also. 
As  those  letters  formed  my  first,  I  designed  that  they 
should  also  form  my  last  appearance  before  the  public 
on  that  topic.  Ho  I  expressed  myself  to  you  in  my 
closing  letter;  but  the  unexpected  "ripple"  has  been 
"excited  on  the  current  of  my  feelings,"  and,  whether 
wi.se  or  otherwise,  I  have  concluded  again  to  address 
you. 

My  reason.s  for  so  doing,  and  thus  departing  from 
my  original  resolution,  are  briefly  these :  The  public, 
who  have  .so  kindly  received  and  so  widely  circiilatcd 
my  "  Letters,"  have  call<!(l  for  another  .scries,  cml)rne- 
ing  the  rca.sons  which  I  have  omitted  to  state,  and 
which,  together  with  those  stated,  forbid  my  return  to 
your  Church.  At  least  one  of  the  papers  devoted  to 
the  interests  of  popery  in  this  country  calls  upon  me, 
in  a  .semi-serious  manner,  to  give  my  views  on  certain 


110  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 


Manual  of  objections.  Partial  decision. 

points  which  it  raises ;  individuals  of  your  communion, 
who  have  given  my  letters  a  candid  perusal,  have  ask- 
ed what  Kirwan  had  to  say  upon  this  and  that  point 
not  considered  by  me ;  and  last,  though  not  least,  is  a 
desire  to  put  into  the  hands  of  every  inquiring  Roman 
Cathohc  a  complete  manual  of  my  objections  to  your 
Church,  candidly  and  kindly  considered.  There,  rev- 
erend sir,  are  the  reasons  and  motives,  and  not  a  love 
of  controversy  for  its  own  sake,  which  induce  me  again 
to  address  you.  Controversy,  for  its  own  sake,  is  not 
desirable,  but  it  is  necessary  so  long  as  error  resists  the 
progress  of  truth. 

While  yielding  to  these  reasons  and  motives,  I  yet 
confess  to  you  that  I  deem  the  present  series  of  letters, 
which  will  be  brief,  a  work  of  supererogation.  If  you 
have  never  performed  such  a  work,  you  know  what  it 
means.  My  conviction  is,  that  the  reasons  given  in 
my  former  letters  for  refusing  to  return  to  your  Church 
are  sufficient — sufficient  to  induce  any  sane  mind  to 
withhold  its  faith  from  your  teachings,  and  every  sane 
man  to  abandon  your  Church.  1'his,  you  will  say,  is 
a  partial  decision ;  it  may  be  so.  But  as  a  tree  may 
be  held  in  its  place  by  a  few  weak  roots  after  the  main 
ligaments  that  bound  it  to  the  earth  arc  cut,  and  when 
the  weakest  wind  that  blows  may  cause  it  to  totter, 
so  a  mind,  when  the  power  of  an  ancient  superstition 
over  it  is  broken,  may  yet  retain  a  connection  with  it, 
influenced  by  reasons  which  seem  unworthy  of  consid- 
eration. I  know  this  to  be  the  case.  The  belief  in 
"  witches  and  warls"  was  early  impressed  on  the  mind 
of  David  Hume  ;  and  it  is  said  of  him  that,  after  he 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  141 

Hume.  A  bad  tree.  QuesMon  answered. 

reasoned  matter  and  mind  out  of  existence,  he  could 
not  hear  the  rustlinsr  of  a  leaf  after  dark  without  start- 
ing  as  if  a  witch  were  upon  him.  The  taste  and  smell 
of  a  sour  liquid  remain  long  in  the  emptied  cask ;  and 
if  any  mind,  rejecting  the  great  outlines  of  your  system, 
is  yet  held  to  it  by  some  reasons  which  I  have  not  con- 
sidered, and  whose  absurdity  I  may  be  able  to  expose, 
I  feel  anxious  to  relieve  it.  I  must  not  withhold  from 
you  my  deep  conviction  that  popery  is  an  evil  tree — 
that  its  fruits  are  only  evil.  I  believe  it  to  be  a  falling 
tree.  Its  branches  are  withering  in  the  air,  and  the 
axe,  wielded  by  an  Almighty  hand,  is  cutting  its  roots ; 
and  if  I  can  assist  in  cutting  a  few  more  of  its  roots, 
and  thus  hastening  its  fall,  I  feel  that  I  will  be  confer- 
ring a  benefit  upon  our  race,  and  contributing  to  the 
emancipation  of  millions  of  men  from  a  slavery  in 
comparison  with  which  that  of  the  Pharaohs  was  free- 
dom. Hence  these  additional  letters  ;  and  all  I  intend 
doing  is  to  state  to  you  some  farther  reasons  which  for- 
bid my  return  to  your  Church. 

Before  entering  upon  a  statement  of  these  reasons, 
permit  me  to  say  a  few  things  which  I  can  better  say 
in  thi.s  preliminary  letter  than  any  where  else. 

The  question  has  doubtless  suggested  itself  to  your 
mind  and  to  the  mind.s  of  others.  Why  do  T  address 
these  letters  to  yoii  ?  S'oiik;  of  my  reasons  I  lmv(!  al- 
ready given  yon.  1  ijolicvc  you  to  be  a  man  of  sense 
and  of  fair  rliaract(;r,  which  can  not  be  said  of  ail  jiapal 
priests.  Yon  arc  put  forth,  now  that  l^ishop  l'ini.d;md, 
also  one  of  our  countrymen,  is  no  more,  as  the  Achilles 
of  your  party  in  these  United  States.     If  any  man  in 


142  K  I  U  \V  A  N  '  S     LETTERS 


Quite  smart.  Up  to  Achilles.  The  argument  for  the  man. 

tlie  country  can  refute  my  reasoning  and  obviate  my 
objections,  it  is  thought  you  can  do  it.  In  the  absence 
of  the  higher  quahties  of  mind,  you  are  considered  as 
quite  smart;  and  as  my  sole  object  and  aim  is  the 
truth,  I  have  selected  the  man,  in  my  opinion,  best  fit- 
ted to  correct  me  when  in  error ;  when  false,  to  show 
me  the  fallacy  of  my  reasoning ;  and  if  he  should  re- 
ply, who  would  reply  as  a  gentleman.  If  you  can  not 
confute  me,  no  man  of  your  Church  in  these  United 
States  can.  Nor  will  I  consent  to  notice  what  may  be 
said  in  the  way  of  reply  to  or  abuse  of  these  letters  by 
any  man  save  yourself.  I  have,  as  they  say,  a  draw- 
ing toward  you  as  an  Irishman ;  I  respect  your  open 
and  manly  bearing  ;  and  sadly  as,  in  my  opinion,  you 
prostitute  your  talents,  I  have  respect  for  them.  Hence 
I  pass  through  the  ranks  of  soldiers  and  by  inferior 
officers,  and  go  up  to  Achilles  himself. 

But  you  have  not  answered  my  former  letters  I  I 
confess  to  you,  sir,  that  I  had  no  expectation  that  you 
would  answer  them,  and  for  these  reasons :  First,  be- 
cause they  are  anonymous ;  and  as  I  like  not  myself 
to  contend  with  a  masked  opponent,  so  I  judged  of  you. 
The  text  is  capable  of  wide  application :  "As  face  an- 
swereth  to  face  in  water,  so  the  heart  of  man  to  man." 
I  prefer,  for  the  present,  to  stand  behind  the  curtain ; 
and  for  this,  among  other  reasons,  that  you  and  all  men 
may  decide  upon  what  I  say  simply  upon  the  merits 
of  my  statements  and  arguments ;  and  for  the  addi- 
tional reason,  to  prevent  a  personal  controversy.  It  is 
an  old  trick  of  your  Church  to  leave  the  argument  for 
thf  irian.     And,  secondly,  because  of  their  matter.      I 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  143 

Facta  stubborn  things.  Play  dumb.  Evil  days. 

speak  to  you  of  what  my  eyes  have  seen,  of  what  my 
ears  have  heard,  of  what  my  heart  has  felt.  Facts  are 
stubborn  things.  How  can  you  make  a  man  beheve 
that  to  be  sweet  which,  from  actual  taste,  he  knows  to 
be  sour  ?  It  is  hard  to  reason  against  a  man's  experi- 
ence. On  these  grounds  I  expected  from  you  no  reply. 
And  although,  unless  I  mistake  you,  not  one  of  the  lit- 
tle men  who  seek  to  put  the  more  abundant  honor  on 
the  part  that  lacketh  by  a  mock  dignity,  by  an  assumed 
superiority,  yet  you  know  when  to  be  wisely  silent. 
If,  sir,  without  compromising  your  crosier — if,  during 
some  hours  of  leisure  from  your  varied  and  manifold 
duties,  you  would  consent  to  answer  some  of  the  rea- 
sons and  considerations  which  I  have  stated,  and  will 
state  in  the  following  letters,  which  forbid  my  return 
to  your  Church,  there  is  one,  at  least,  that  will  read 
your  reply  with  great  pleasure.  I  am  not,  sir,  among 
those  who  impute  your  silence  to  your  inability  to  re- 
ply to  my  statements  ;  but  if  I  can  only  gain  access  to 
the  public  ear — if  I  can  only  obtain  from  candid  Ro- 
man Catholics  a  careful  consideration  of  what  I  say, 
your  silence  will  give  but  little  trouble.  You  may 
play  dumb  as  long  as  it  suits  you ;  my  object  will  be 
attained. 

Permit  me  to  make  one  other  remark  before  closing 
this  letter.  Evil  days  have  come  upon  the  system  of 
which  you  are  so  open  an  advocate.  Once  you  could 
.silence  incpiiry  by  C'hurch  autiiority  ;  but,  in  this  coun- 
try especially,  that  day  has  passed  away  ;  it  is  passing 
away  oven  under  the  shadow  of  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's. 
There  are  tho.se  yet,  in  this  country  and  in   llu;  old 


144  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     LETTERS 

Jackdaws.  Mere  authority.  Put  on  the  liarness. 

countries  of  Europe,  who,  like  that  useless  bird  of  sa- 
ble wing,  called  the  jackdaw,  which  you  and  I  have 
seen  in  our  youth,  love  the  narrow  window,  and  the 
toppling  tower,  and  the  mantling  ivy,  who  hover  about 
whatever  is  ancient,  however  worthless  or  truthless, 
but  their  number  is  small,  and  is  daily  diminishing. 
The  great  inquiry  now  is  after  the  true,  the  scriptural, 
the  reasonable.  The  day  for  the  trial  of  all  things  has 
come.  Mere  authority  in  philosophy,  in  morals,  in 
religion,  is  valueless.  When  man  appeals  from  the 
Church  to  the  Scriptures,  it  is  of  no  avail  to  say  to  him, 
"  Believe  the  Church."  No  appeal  is  admitted  from 
the  Scriptures  to  the  Fathers — from  the  teachings  of 
Paul  to  the  decisions  of  councils.  Old  things,  if  ab- 
surd, are  passing  away,  and  their  wrinkles  only  hasten 
their  death.  Nor  is  there  in  the  physical  or  moral  sci- 
ences, nor  in  the  science  of  government,  nor  in  the  the- 
ory of  religion,  a  single  principle  that  is  not  tried  and 
sifted  as  if  never  tried  before.  At  this  treatment,  hoary 
error  may  lift  up  its  hands  in  holy  horror,  and  fall  back 
aghast  as  did  Saul  before  the  ghost  of  Samuel,  but  it 
can  not  bo  helped.  There  may  be,  and  doubtless  is,  a 
reckless  speculation,  a  profane  tampering  with  sacred 
things,  but  nothing  will  eventually  suffer  but  the  truth- 
less. And  what  will  become  of  popery  when  proof  and 
Scripture  supplant  authority  and  credulity  ? 

It  becomes  you,  then,  sir,  to  buckle  on  the  harness. 
The  battle  has  but  begun  between  truth  and  error. 
You  have  witnessed  hot  contests,  but  far  hotter  are 
before  you.  The  system  you  advocate  is  considered 
not  only  hugely  false,  but  greatly  dangerous  to  all  the 


TO     BISHOP    HUGHES.  145 


Let  truth  triumph  and  error  perish. 


interests  of  man,  and  its  every  principle  and  all  its  pol- 
icy will  be  tried  as  in  the  fire.  In  your  soul  and  in 
mine  there  should  not  be  a  desire  but  for  the  triumph 
of  the  truth.  Let  any  opinion  that  I  hold  be  proved 
unscriptural  and  unreasonable,  and  I  will  cheerfully 
give  it  to  the  hottest  furnace  you  can  heat  to  consume 
it.  Let  the  truth  of  G-od  triumph,  whatever  human 
systems  perish.  AVill  you  join  me  in  this  aspiration  ? 
In  my  next  I  shall  proceed  with  my  statement  of 
some  of  the  additional  reasons  which  prevent  me  from 
returning  to  your  Church. 

With  respect,  yours,  Kirwan. 

a 


146  K  I  R  \V  A  N  '  S     L  K  T  T  E  R  S 

Exlrcme  unction.  The  sacrament  explained. 


LETTER    11. 

E.xtreme  Unction.  —  Its  Meaning. — The  way  of  administering  it. — 
James,  v.,  14,  15. — It  enriches  the  Church. — An  Incident. 

My  dear  Sir, — iVgrccably  to  the  promise  made  to 
you  in  closing  my  last  letter,  I  now  proceed  to  a  state- 
ment of  the  additional  reasons  which  yet  prevent  my 
return  to  the  pale  of  your  Church,  in  which  I  was  born, 
baptized,  and  confirmed.  I  shall  begin  with  your  sac- 
crament  of  Extreme  Unction.  As  but  few  of  your 
own  people,  and  yet  fewer  Protestants,  understand  it, 
I  hope  you  and  my  readers  will  bear  with  me  even 
if  I  should  occupy  this  letter  with  its  consideration. 
"When  rightly  understood,  it  is  a  terrible  sacrament.  I 
will  strive  so  to  explain  it  as  to  bring  it  to  the  level 
of  every  mind,  and  from  your  own  standard  authors, 
which  lie  before  mc. 

The  name  of  the  sacrament  explains  it ;  it  is  anoint- 
ing a  sick  person  with  holy  oil  when  recovery  is  ex- 
tremely doubtful.  This,  and  the  fact  that  it  is  sup- 
posed to  be  the  last  act  of  religion,  give  it  its  name. 
The  object  of  this  anointing  is  thus  explained  by  the 
doctors  of  Trent :  "  The  devil  is  always  busy  in  seek- 
ing to  destroy  the  .souls  of  men  ;  yet  it  is  at  the  hour 
of  death  that  he  most  vehemently  exerts  all  his  power ; 
and  the  object  of  this  anointing  by  holy  oil  is  to  fortify 
the  soul  in  the  dying  hour  against  the  violent  attacks 


TO     BISHOP    HUGHES.  147 

Defined  at  Trent.  The  oil.  Its  effects. 

of  its  spiritual  enemies,  and  to  enable  it  to  make  a 
holy  death  and  to  secure  a  happy  eternity." 

The  only  person  who  can  administer  this  sacrament 
is  a  bishop  or  priest.  You  admit  a  midwife  or  a  lay- 
man to  baptize,  but  a  priest  only  can  administer  ex- 
treme unction.  The  reasons  for  this  will  appear  in 
the  sequel. 

The  oil  used  in  this  sacrament  must  not  be  common 
oil.  That  the  effects  intended  may  be  produced,  it 
must  be  oil  of  olives,  "  solemnly  blessed  by  the  bishop 
every  year  on  Maunday  Thursday."  I  quote  from 
Challoner  ;  the  sentence  leaves  it  doubtful  whether  the 
efficacy  of  the  bishop's  blessing  continues  only  a  year, 
or  whether  the  oil  used  must  be  blessed  on  that  day. 
It  has  what  is  called  in  rhetoric  a  squinting  construc- 
tion. As  the  bishop  is  paid  for  blessing  it,  it  is  proba- 
ble he  blesses  but  little  at  once,  and  that  he  gives  it 
efficacy  but  for  a  limited  time. 

The  effects  and  fruits  of  this  anointing  are  these  :  It 
remits  sins,  at  least  such  as  arc  venial ;  it  heals  the 
soul  of  its  infirmity  and  weakness,  and  helps!  to  remove 
the  debt  of  punishment  due  to  past  sins ;  it  strength- 
ens the  .soul  to  bear  the  illness  of  the  body  and  to  re- 
pel its  spiritual  enemies;  and  '•'■ifil  he  expedient  for 
the  f^oud  of  the  soul,  it  often  restores  the  health  of 
the  hodyP  I  wish  you,  sir,  and  my  readers,  to  ponder 
the  sentence  in  itahcs.  Its  meaning  is  this:  If  the 
person  is  restored,  it  is  a  miracle  wrought  by  extreme 
tinction ;  if  ho  dies,  restoration  would  not  conduce  to 
the  health  of  his  soul  1 1 

The  manner  (if  administering  Ibis  sacrnmcnt  is  ns 


148  kirwan's    letters 

Tho  way  of  anointing.  The  subject.  Authority. 

follows :  If  the  time  permits,  certain  preseribed  pray- 
ers are  said,  the  Confiteor  is  repeated,  and  absolution 
is  granted  ;  then  the  priest,  making  thrice  the  sign  of 
the  cross,  says,  "  In  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  may  all  the  power  of  tho 
devil  be  extinguished  in  thee  by  the  laying  on  of  our 
hands  and  the  invocation  of  the  holy  angels,  archan- 
gels," &c.  Then,  dipping  his  thumb  in  the  holy  oil, 
he  anoints  the  sick  person  in  the  form  of  a  cross  upon 
the  eyes,  the  ears,  the  nose,  the  mouth,  the  hands,  and 
feet,  at  each  anointing  making  use  of  this  form  of 
prayer :  "  Through  this  holy  unction  and  his  own  most 
tender  mercy,  may  the  Lord  pardon  thee  whatever  sin 
thou  hast  committed  by  thy  sight.  Amen."  And  the 
same  prayer  is  repeated,  adapting  the  form  to  the  sev- 
eral senses. 

The  requisite  dispositions  in  the  receiver  are  faith  in 
the  sacrament,  a  pure  desire  for  the  health  of  his  soul, 
and  of  his  body  if  expedient,  resignation,  repentance, 
devotion. 

In  case  of  recovery  and  relapse,  it  may  be  repeated, 
and  as  often  as  the  person  relapses. 

And  your  scriptural  authority  for  all  this  you  find  in 
James,  v.,  14,  15,  which  you  thus  translate :  "  Is  any 
sick  among  you  ?  Let  him  bring  in  the  priests  of  the 
Church,  and  let  them  pray  over  him,  anointing  him 
with  oil  in  the  name  of  the  Lord ;  and  the  prayer  of 
faith  shall  save  the  sick  man,  and  the  Lord  will  lift 
him  up ;  and  if  he  be  in  sin,  his  sins  will  be  forgiven 
him." 

Such  is  your  extreme  unction,  as  described  by  the 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  149 


The  priests  '.  The  difference.  Diflering  objects. 

Council  of  Trent,  Challoner,  and  the  Poor  Man's  Cate- 
chism. Although  abridged,  you  at  least  will  say  that 
it  is  a  perfectly  fah  abridgment.  Let  us  now  examine 
it  in  the  light  of  Scripture  and  reason. 

I  ask  you  to  look  at  your  Greek  Testament,  and  then 
to  answer  me  on  what  authority  you  thus  translate  a 
portion  of  the  14th  verse  of  James  v. :  "Let  him  bring 
in  the  priests  of  the  Church."  Ah  !  the  priests,  the 
j)riests ;  this  sacrament  is  for  their  benefit,  and  by  a 
mistranslation,  the  power  of  anointmg  and  praying 
must  be  confined  to  them !  Wliat  a  wonderful  lean- 
ing all  your  errors  and  nonsense  have  to  the  priests ! 

But  does  the  text  aflbrd  the  shadow  of  a  support  to 
the  sacrament  ?  No,  not  even  the  shadow.  You  ut- 
terly pervert  the  meaning  of  the  apostle.  The  anoint- 
ing and  prayer  of  James  is  for  the  life  of  the  sick  ; 
your  anointing  is  for  their  death,  and  is  never  admin- 
istered while  there  is  any  hope  of  life.  The  anointing 
of  James  is  for  the  cure  of  the  body  ;  yours  is  for  the 
cure  of  the  soul,  in  reference  to  which  the  text  gives 
no  direction.  The  saving  of  the  sick  and  the  forgive- 
ness of  sins  are  in  consequence  of  the  prayer  of  faith. 
Can  none  but  a  priest  offer  that  prayer  ?  The  anoint- 
ing of  James  and  the  prayers  to  be  offered  were  to  bo 
followed  with  miraculous  recovery  ;  yours  arc  to  bo 
followed  with  speedy  death.  The  cures  wrought  by 
the  anointing  of  James  were  for  the  establishment  of 
the  claims  of  the  Gospel;  yours  for  the  purpo.se  of 
establishing  the  ghostly  aulburiiy  of  your  priesthood. 
That  tfixt  a})ove  (|Uf)te(I  is  confrssfdly  Ihe  only  one  on 
which  you  build  your  sacrament,  and  that  text  must 


150  K  1  U  \V  A  N  '  S     L  E  T  T  E  R  S 

But  one  instaiu-c.  A  grave  qucstiuii.  Do  oxpliiiii. 

be  mistranslated,  and  utterly  tortured  out  of  its  sense 
and  meaning  even  to  afford  a  pretext  to  the  use  which 
you  make  of  it ;  and  this  is  but  one  of  the  many  in- 
stances in  which  your  Church  has  changed  and  pervert- 
ed the  original  meaning  of  the  Scriptures,  and  forged 
them  into  chains  to  bind  men  to  your  system  of  delu- 
sion. 

Having  thus  swept  from  your  extreme  unction  the 
only  scriptural  authority  claimed  for  it,  and  hung  it  up 
as  a  commandment  of  men,  I  have  a  few  questions  to 
ask  in  reference  to  it. 

Is  it  so  that  God's  people  need  the  oil  of  olives  bless- 
ed on  Maunday  Thursday  to  be  placed  upon  their  eyes, 
and  nose,  and  ears,  and  tongue,  and  hands,  and  feet,  to 
secure  the  remission  of  their  sins,  and  to  heal  the  mal- 
adies of  their  souls,  and  to  enable  them  to  repel  their 
spiritual  enemies  ?  If  this  oil  can  do  it,  what  need  is 
there  of  the  blood  of  Christ  ?  If  the  blood  of  Christ 
and  the  presence  of  his  Spirit  can  do  it,  what  is  the 
need  of  this  olive  oil  ?     Do  explain  this  matter. 

But  again :  you  require  in  the  receiver  of  this  sac- 
rament the  dispositions  stated  above.  Those  are  truly 
Christian  dispositions,  bating  a  few  things  in  your  man- 
ner of  stating  them.  If  these  dispositions  are  possess- 
ed, will  not  the  soul  of  the  person  be  saved  without 
your  olive  oil?  If  not  possessed,  will  your  olive  oil 
save  it  ?     Do  explain  this  matter. 

Again :  among  the  effects  of  this  sacrament,  as  stated 
in  the  Poor  Man's  Catechism,  p.  329,  is  this  :  "  It  brings 
him  (the  sick  man)  in  safety  to  the  port  of  eternal  hap- 
piness."    Now,  sir,  does  extreme  unction  save  from 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES,  151 

A  device  to  get  money.  An  incantation. 

Purgatory  ?  This  you  will  not  say.  If  not,  then  it 
only  takes  him  to  the  port  of  eternal  happiness  ;  from 
the  port  he  is  turned  into  Purgatory  ;  and  your  priests 
get  paid  for  the  olive  oil  by  which  he  slips  safely  to  the 
port  of  eternal  happiness,  and  then  they  get  paid  for 
the  masses  by  which  they  get  him  out  of  purgatorial 
fires  into  heaven  I  So  that  extreme  unction  is  simply 
a  device  to  increase  "  the  alms  and  the  suffrages  of  the 
faithful."     Is  not  this  so  ? 

Again  :  what  a  low  and  sad  view  of  the  religion  of 
God  does  this  sacrament  give  to  a  dying  man !  It  is 
administered  to  all  that  seek  it  on  a  dying  bed.  Let 
us  suppose  a  case  which,  no  doubt,  often  occurs.  There 
is  a  papist  in  the  article  of  death.  To  this  hour  he  has 
lived  in  sin.  Feeling  that  death  is  upon  him,  he  sends 
for  his  priest.  He  thinks  now  of  nothing  but  confes- 
sion, the  Eucharist,  and  extreme  unction.  The  priest 
appears  in  his  robes.  If  the  sick  man  is  able,  he  con- 
fesses ;  if  not  able,  the  anointing  commences,  and  pro- 
ceeds in  the  way  already  stated.  He  is  crossed  and 
anointed  on  his  eyes,  his  nose,  his  tongue,  his  ears,  his 
hands,  and  feet,  and  the  prescribed  prayers  arc  said. 
The  man  now  dies  in  peace,  feeling  that  his  sins  arc 
remitted,  that  his  soul  is  healed  of  its  infirmities,  that 
his  spiritual  enemies  arc  all  subdued  through  the  efli- 
cacy  of  olive  oil  blessed  on  Maunday  Thursday  I  Not 
a  thought  of  the  dying  man  is  directed  to  the  cross  of 
.Icsus  Christ  or  to  the  efficacy  of  his  atonement  I  So 
that  extreme  unction  is  a  papal  incantation,  by  which 
the  priest  makes  a  delndcd  pcoj)l<!  to  believe  lliat  the 
keys  of  heaven  and  hell  hang  by  liis  girdle — that  by 


152  Iv  I  U  W  A  N  '  S     LETTERS 

Olive  oil  for  Hit-  blood  of  Christ.  Tremendous  use. 

liis  olive  oil  ho  can  procure  for  them  uU  that  the  Bible 
suspends  on  faith  in  Jesus  Christ!     Esteem  me  not 
harsh,  reverend  sir,  when  I  declare  it  as  my  deep  con- 
viction that,  by  your  sacrament  of  extreme  unction, 
your  Church  is  deluding  and  damning  multitudes  of 
souls,  and  from  year  to  year.     It  is  a  wicked  substitu- 
tion of  olive  oil  for  the  blood  of  Christ  at  the  dying 
hour,  and  simply  and  only  for  the  benefit  of  your  priests. 
And  what  a  tremendous  use  your  Church  has  made 
of  it!     Gaining  access  to  the  dying  beds  of  kings, 
princes,  and  barons,  in  past  days,  with  your  olive  oil, 
you  have  extorted  millions  of  money  from  those  who 
believed  in  your  ghostly  power.     You  have  thus  en- 
riched the  Church  and  impoverished  the  people.     You 
have  built  palaces  for  your  bishops,  and  reduced  the 
people  to  beggary.     AVhat  will  a  dying  sinner  with- 
hold from  a  man,  who,  he  believes,  has  the  power  to 
lock  him  up  in  hell,  or,  by  a  little  olive  oil  rubbed  on 
with  his  thumb,  can  conduct  him  to  the  port  of  eter- 
nal happiness  ? 

The  man  yet  lives  who  narrates  the  following  scene, 
of  which  he  was  an  eye  and  ear  witness.  The  chief 
of  one  of  our  Indian  tribes,  a  man  of  great  sagacity 
and  decision,  was  on  his  dying  bed.  Many  of  his  peo- 
ple, by  a  French  Jesuit,  were  converted  to  the  faith  of 
your  Church.  He  knew  the  wiles  of  your  missionary, 
and  forbade  him  admission  to  his  dying  bed.  The 
priest  came  with  his  olive  oil,  and  pressed  so  hard  for 
admission  to  him  that  it  was  granted.  "  Stay,"  said 
the  dying  chief  to  the  man  who  relates  the  story,  "  stay 
outside  the  door,  and  if  I  knock,  come  in."      The  priest 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  153 


The  dying  chief.  Land :  land ;  Some  oilier  market. 

entered,  and  the  door  was  closed.  Soon  a  violent  knock 
was  heard,  and  the  man  entered  the  room.  "  Take 
him  out,"  said  the  dying  chief;  "take  him  out — land 
— land — give  me  land."  The  priest  would  put  on  the 
olive  oil,  but  wanted  first  a  grant  of  land. 

Reverend  sir,  your  Church  must  annul  tliis  sacra- 
ment of  extreme  unction  tefore  I  can  return  to  its  em- 
brace. To  my  mind  it  is  extreme  nonsense.  Should 
not  incantations  over  dying  men  be  left  to  Hottentots  ? 
I  implore  you  to  seek  some  other  market  for  your  olive 
oil  than  the  chambers  of  the  dying.  You  sell  it  there 
at  too  dear  a  price,  and  very  often  to  the  deep  injury 
of  the  widow  and  the  orphan.  Often  do  your  wretch- 
ed priests  carry  away  the  last  dollar  of  a  poor  man  in 
pay  for  their  oUvc  oil,  and  leave  the  victim  of  their  de- 
lusions to  be  buried  as  a  pauper ! 

AVith  respect,  yours,  Kirwan. 

G-2 


154  K  1  R  W  A  N  '  IS     I.  K  T  T  K  11  S 

Penance.  Defined.  Ah  to  the  ]>unitent. 


LETTER    III. 

The  pretended  Sacrament  of  Penance  described. — No  Scripture  War- 
rant for  it. — Its  Absurdities. — A  personal  Inquiry. 

My  dear  Sir, — ^With  your  leave,  I  will  proceed  with 
my  statement  of  the  reasons  which  prevent  my  return 
to  the  emhraces  of  your  Church.  Permit  me  to  ask, 
in  the  present  letter,  your  consideration  of  the  reason 
which  I  deduce  from  your  sacrament  of  Penance.  It 
presents  an  objection  as  strong  as  your  sacrament  of 
extreme  unction,  which,  without  meaning  to  be  irrev- 
erent, I  have  already  pronounced  extreme  nonsense. 

As  but  few  even  of  your  own  people  understand  this 
sacrament,  I  will  give  a  brief  statement  of  it,  and  from 
your  owTi  authors. 

Penance  is  a  sacrament  by  which  the  sins  commit- 
ted after  baptism  are  forgiven.  Your  doctrine  is,  that 
original  sin  is  washed  away  in  baptism,  and  that  pen- 
ance secures  the  forgiveness  of  all  sins  committed  after 
baptism !  "Where  is  this  distinction  taught  in  the  Bi- 
ble ?     Do  teU  us. 

On  the  part  of  the  penitent,  penance  consists  in  con- 
trition, confession,  and  satisfaction.  Contrition  is  a 
hearty  sorrow  for  sin,  with  a  resolution  to  sin  no  more ; 
confession  is  a  full  and  sincere  declaration  of  all  our 
sins  to  a  priest ;  satisfaction  is  a  faithful  performance 
of  the  prayers  and  good  works  enjoined  by  the  confe.'<s- 
or.     So  far  as  to  the  penitent. 


TO     U  I  S  H  O  I'     HUGHES.  155 

As  to  the  priest.  lis  tiructs  The  prodigal. 


On  the  part  of  the  priest,  it  consists  in  the  absolu- 
tion which  he  pronounces  by  the  authority  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  form  of  absohition  is  in  these  words  :  "  I 
absolve  thee  from  thy  sins,  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

The  effects  of  this  sacrament  are  thus  stated  in  the 
"  Poor  Man's  Catechism :"  "  It  remits  all  the  sins  of  the 
penitent  without  exception,  restores  him  to  the  grace 
he  had  forfeited,  replenishes  his  soul  with  the  greatest 
peace,  tranquillity,  and  spiritual  delights,  and  reinstates 
him  again  in  the  friendship  of  Grod,  as  the  prodigal  son, 
after  his  return,  was  restored  to  his  former  honors  in 
the  house  of  his  father."  "Wonderful  results  from  such 
causes  I  May  I  ask  here,  if  the  parable  of  the  prodigal 
son  meant  to  represent  the  way  of  return  of  a  sinner 
to  God,  where  did  he  stop  to  make  confession  and  re- 
ceive absolution  ?     Do  tell  us. 

None  but  a  priest  can  grant  absolution ;  and  the 
power  of  the  priest  to  absolve  you  draw  from  John,  xx., 
22,  23  :  "  And  when  he  had  said  this,  he  breathed  on 
them,  and  said  unto  them,  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Whosesoever  sins  yc  remit,  they  are  remitted  unto 
them ;  and  whosesoever  sins  yc  retain,  they  are  re- 
tained ;''   and  from  Matt.,  xvi.,  15-19. 

Huch,  sir.  in  1)rief,  is  your  sacrament  of  penance, 
lict  us  now  look  at  it  in  the  light  of  Scripture  and 
rea.son. 

And  lot  ine  first  ask  yon,  How  do  you  make  a  sacri- 
fice {)f  penance  ?  Look  at  Challoner's  definition  of  a 
sacrament :  "  It  is  an  outward  sign  or  ceremony  of 
Christ's  institution,  by  which  grace  is  given  to  the  soul 


i^G  KIK  WAN's     LETTKRS 

How  a  sacrament.  Such  a  garden  I  Polluting  conressional. 

of  the  worthy  receiver."  Now,  what  is  the  outward 
sign  of  penance  ?  It  has  no  outward  sign,  no  external 
ceremony.  It  is  not  a  sacrament,  according  to  your 
own  rules.  Your  absolution  is  a  different  thing  from 
your  penance. 

Again  :  two  of  the  constituent  elements  of  penance, 
confession  and  absolution,  have  no  foundation  in  Scrip- 
ture. Of  confession  I  have  already  spoken.  I  have 
shown  it  to  be  a  priestly  device  of  the  most  fatal  influ- 
ence upon  human  liberty ;  its  tendency  to  the  corrup- 
tion of  morals  is  acknowledged.  There  is  on  my  table 
a  book,  called  "  The  Garden  of  the  Soul,"  bearing  on 
its  title-page  your  own  name ;  and  such  a  garden  I 
Now,  conceive  yourself  sitting  in  your  confessional, 
and  whispering  through  the  little  hole  in  its  side  in  the 
cars  of  a  modest  or  immodest  young  girl  of  eighteen, 
or  an  amiable  young  wife  of  twenty-one  years,  the 
questions  on  pages  212  and  214  !  Sir,  I  dare  not  quote 
them  here.  I  strove  to  read  them  to  a  friend  a  few 
days  since,  and  before  I  got  half  through  he  cried  out, 
"  Stop  !  I  can  hear  no  more."  The  polluting  confes- 
sional is  a  part  of  your  sacrament  of  penance.  Of  ab- 
solution I  shall  speak  in  the  sequel. 

Look  at  the  texts,  for  a  moment,  which  you  quote  as 
teaching  your  power  of  absolution.  It  seems  to  me 
that  if  they  were  capable  of  any  other  interpretation 
than  that  which  you  give  them,  you  would  prefer  it, 
in  order  to  get  rid  of  the  monstrous  power  with  which 
it  clothes  your  priests.  But,  alas  I  it  is  for  the  sake 
of  that  power  that  you  pervert  them.  As  there  were 
various  opinions  entertained  as  to  who  Chri.st  was,  we 


'       TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  1 ')7 

Absolution.  The  keys.  The  power  of  the  apostles. 

hear  him,  in  Matt.,  xvi.,  io,  asking  his  disciples,  "  Wliom 
say  ye  that  I  am?"  Peter  repUes,  "  Thou  art  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  Hving  God."  Jesus  rephes,  "  Upon  this 
rock"  (that  is,  the  confession  of  Peter  that  he  was  the 
Son  of  the  hving  God)  "  I  will  build  my  Church." 
How  simple  and  common-sense  I 

Addressing  Peter,  and  through  him  the  other  disci- 
ples, he  says,  '•  I  will  give  thee  the  keys  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven."  Need  I  tell  you,  sir,  that  by  "  the 
kingdom  of  heaven"  here  is  meant  the  Church  of 
Christ  ?  Can  such  a  master  in  Israel  as  you  are  be 
ignorant  of  this  ?  This  being  so,  "  the  keys  of  the 
kingdom"  simply  means  the  power  of  admitting  proper 
persons  to  the  Church,  and  excluding  improper  persons 
from  it.  Keys,  you  know,  were  the  ancient  emblems 
of  authority.  How  simple  and  common-sense  is  all 
this! 

Continuing  to  address  Peter,  and  through  him  the 
other  di.sciples,  he  says,  "  Whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind 
on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven,  and  whatsoever 
thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven." 
To  bind  and  to  loose  here  arc  equivalent  to  bidding 
and  forbidding,  to  granting  and  refusing,  to  declaring 
lawful  or  unlawful.  The  apostles  were  endued  with 
the  Holy  Ghost,  that  they  might  infallibly  declare  the 
will  of  God  to  mankind,  and  determine  what  was  or 
was  not  binding  on  the  conscience — to  show  what  per- 
son.s  ought  or  ought  not  to  be  admitted  to  the  Church, 
and  to  decide  on  the  characters  of  those  whoso  sins 
were  or  were  not  forgiven ;  and  whatever  in  these  or 
similar  things  they  bound  or  loosed  on  earth,  would 


158  K  1  K  W  A  N  '  S     LETTERS 


Right  inlcriirctal ion.  Our  rock.  Duill  on  Saliiii. 

bo  bound  or  loosed  in  heaven.  This  is  also  the  mean- 
ing of  John,  XX.,  22,  23,  already  quoted.  This,  sir,  I 
believe  to  be  the  common-sense,  the  fair  and  just  in- 
terpretation of  a  passage  on  which  your  Church  has 
built  up  a  priestly  power  that  has  overshadowed  the 
earth  and  enslaved  nations.  "Where  now,  sir,  is  your 
supremacy  of  Peter,  your  power  of  the  keys,  your  pow- 
er of  absolution  ?  Gone,  like  the  morning  cloud  before 
the  sun.  Blessed  be  God,  you  have  not  yet  turned 
your  keys  upon  the  common  sense  of  the  world  ! 

Now,  sir,  look  for  a  moment  at  some  of  the  absurd- 
ities connected  with  your  interpretations  of  the  above 
texts.     They  are  sufficiently  startling. 

Your  Church  is  built  upon  Peter.  "  Thou  art  Pe- 
ter, and  upon  this  rock  I  build  my  Church."  So  that 
your  Church  is  built  upon  the  person  of  Peter ;  ours 
is  built  upon  the  truth  declared  by  Peter.  Is,  sir,  your 
rock  as  our  rock  ? 

Is  your  Church  built  upon  Peter  ?  Now  turn  from 
the  19th  verse  of  the  18th  of  Matthew,  which  we  have 
been  considering,  to  the  22d  and  23d  verses  of  the  same 
chapter.  Peter  is  represented  as  rebuking  his  Lord  for 
the  intimations  he  had  given  of  his  approaching  death. 
But  the  Master,  turning  upon  Peter,  thus  addressed 
him  :  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan."  So  that,  on  your 
principles  of  interpretation,  your  Church  must  be  built 
upon  Satan  I  Do  not  get  vexed  ;  I  am  reasoning  with 
you  on  your  own  principles. 

What  your  priests,  however  profane  or  wicked,  bind 
or  loose  upon  earth,  is  bound  or  loosed  in  heaven.  Now 
here  is  a  wicked  man  absolved  by  a  priest :  docs  he  go 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  1/59 


How  is  this  1  The  curate  and  priest.  Satisfaction. 

to  heaven  ?  Here  is  a  good  man  bound  by  a  priest : 
does  he  go  to  hell  ?  It  must  be  so,  on  your  principles. 
But  you  say  he  must  be  a  sincere  penitent  to  gain  any 
benefit  from  absolution.  But  if  truly  contrite,  he  can 
get  to  heaven  without  your  absolution. 

Take  another  case :  the  man  bound  by  the  curate 
may  be  loosed  by  the  parish  priest.  I  take  the  follow- 
ing illustration  from  a  book  before  me  :  A  penitent  is 
enjoined  to  abstain  from  breakfast  every  morning  un- 
til his  next  confession.  Christmas  day  intervenes,  and 
he  eats  breakfast,  not  thinking  that  that  day  could  be 
included.  On  confessing  this  at  his  next  confession, 
the  curate  drove  liim  from  his  knee,  declaring  that  he 
would  have  no  more  to  do  with  a  person  that  so  trilled 
with  his  commands.  On  the  borders  of  despair,  he 
went  to  the  parish  priest,  telling  him  the  whole  story. 
"  Do  not  mind  it,  my  child,"  said  the  kind-hearted  fa- 
ther ;  "  I  will  confess  you."  He  did  so,  and  absolved 
him.  Hero  one  priest  binds  sin  on  his  soul,  and  an- 
other unbinds  it.  He  dies  in  this  state.  What  be- 
comes of  him  ?  Does  the  binding  of  the  curate  send 
him  to  hell,  or  docs  the  loosing  of  the  parish  priest  send 
him  to  heaven  ?  What  becomes  of  him  ?  Is  he  sus- 
pended .somewhere  between  heaven  and  In  11  ?  Do  ex- 
plain this  matter  to  our  comprehension. 

liut  let  us  look  at  the  satisfaction,  which  is  a  part 
of  the  sacrament  of  penance.  "  It  consists  in  a  faith- 
ful performance  of  the  penance  enjoined  by  the  priest 
to  whom  we  confess,  wlicther  as  to  restitution,  or  pray- 
ers, or  ahns-deeds,  or  fasting,  to  make  some  reparation 
])y  thes<'.  eminent  good  works   for  tlic  injury  done  to 


IGO  K  1  li  W  A  N  '  S     1,  !•;  1'  T  E  R  S 

Exchange  ollice.  Trayurs  a  puiiiMluiieiit.  Kinds  of  penance. 

God."  The  pcnanco  enjoined  by  the  priest  is  an  "  ex- 
change which  God  makes  of  eternal  punishment,  which 
we  have  deserved  by  sin,  into  these  small  penitential 
works."  I  quote  from  Challoner.  And,  without  satis- 
faction like  this,  the  sinner  can  not  be  saved. 

Now,  sir,  w^ill  you  tell  me  where  this  is  taught  in 
the  Scriptures  ?  Where  are  we  told  that  the  blood  of 
Christ  is  not  sufficient  to  cleanse  from  all  sin  ?  Where 
is  authority  given  to  ministers  or  priests  to  establish 
an  exchange-office,  where,  for  a  compensation,  "  eternal 
punishment  is  exchanged  for  small  penitential  works  ?" 
Where  does  the  Bible  make  a  difference  between  ante- 
baptism  and  post-baptism  sins  ? 

Take  another  view  of  this  thing.  Penance  means 
punishment ;  and  "  prayers,  fasting,  and  alms"  are  en- 
joined by  the  priests  as  penance — that  is,  as  punish- 
ment ;  so  that  your  Church  makes  prayers  a  punish- 
ment to  atone  for  sins  I  What  the  Bible  makes  a  priv- 
ilege, you  make  a  punishment !  The  fasting  which  is 
beneficial  is  that  to  which  we  are  led  by  a  sense  of 
our  sins ;  you  enjoin  it  as  a  punishment !  And  can 
alms-giving  be  a  punishment,  save  to  the  worshiper  of 
money  ?  AVhat  are  the  prayers  or  alms  worth  that  are 
offered  or  given  as  a  punishment  ? 

The  penance  enjoined  and  the  austerities  voluntarily 
practiced  are  sometimes  very  singular  when  consider- 
ed in  the  light  of  making  atonement  for  sins.  Some- 
times they  consist  in  a  set  number  of  "  Our  Fathers" 
and  "  Hail  Marys"  counted  on  the  beads  or  fingers  once 
or  oftener  a  day  for  so  many  days ;  sometimes  in  fast- 
ing for  a  given  time,  on  given  days,  from  meat,  eggs, 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  161 

Modified  by  iho  priest.  Curious  austerities.  Burlesque. 

&c. ;  sometimes  in  a  short  pilgrimage  to  Saint  John's 
Well  or  Saint  Patrick's ;  sometimes,  in  Ireland,  in  go- 
ing to  the  Seven  Stations,  and  walking  on  bare  knees 
on  the  ground  from  one  station  to  another.  The  pen- 
ances enjoined  by  tlie  priest  are  optional  and  multiform, 
and  are  modified  according  to  his  own  prejudices  and 
the  dignity  of  the  confessing  penitent.  Some  of  the 
voluntary  austerities  are  curious  enough.  St.  Domi- 
nic, when  a  child,  would  leave  his  cradle  and  lie  upon 
the  cold  ground.  I  have  seen  many  an  urchin  do  this 
whose  name  is  not  yet,  and  is  not  likely  to  be,  in  the 
calendar.  St.  Francis  used  to  call  his  body  Brother 
Ass,  and  whip  it  as  badly  as  Balaam  did  his.  Saint 
Francis  Loyola  put  on  iron  chains  and  a  hair  shirt,  and 
flogged  himself  thrice  a  day.  He  deserved  it  all  I  St. 
Macarius  went  naked  six  months  in  a  desert,  suflering 
himself  to  be  stung  with  flics,  to  atone  for  the  sin  of 
having  killed  a  flea !  Now,  is  it  not  a  wicked  bur- 
lesque upon  the  religion  of  God  to  make  ignorant  peo- 
ple believe  that  in  these  and  similar  ways  they  secure 
an  exchange  of  eternal  punishment  ?  Language  sup- 
plies no  words  in  which  I  can  express  to  you  my  deep 
abhorrence  of  your  sacrament  of  penance. 

I'icturo  to  yourself,  reverend  sir,  this  whole  thing. 
There  is  a  papist  who  has  sinned  grievously  after  bap- 
iism  :  how  can  he  get  to  heaven?  Tlirough  the  sac- 
rament of  jicnance.  It  is  not  suiiicicnt  that  he  repent 
of  it ;  no,  he  must  confess  to  you  ;  tlicn  he  must  per- 
form nil  tin;  anst(!riti('s  Ihat  you  enjoin  ;  then  you  ab- 
solve him  ;  tuid  IIkii,  faking  uj)  tlic  key  lluit  bangs  by 
yonr  girdli',  vnii  open  to  him  tlic  kingdom  of  heaven. 


162  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

Blasphemous  assumption.  Spaniels.  A  question. 

So,  then,  it  is  in  your  power  to  say  who  shall  and  who 
shall  not  enter  heaven.  What  blasphemous  assump- 
tion, when  the  divine  Savior  tells  me,  and  proclaims 
to  all  men,  that  "  he  that  belie veth  on  the  Son  hath 
life."  Such  assumptions  are  only  worthy  of  the  world's 
scorn. 

It  is  amazing  how  men  pretending  to  be  religious 
could  contrive  such  a  sacrament.  It  is  amazing  how 
rational  men  can  believe  it.  But  it  is  not  amazing 
how  men  believing  it,  and  in  the  power  with  which  it 
clothes  you,  should  fawn  at  your  feet  as  spaniels.  It 
is  no  wonder  that  they  pour  their  treasures  into  your 
coffers  as  water. 

I  believe  in  repentance,  and  hope  I  am  not  a  stran- 
ger to  it.  I  reject  penance  as  a  priestly  device  to  rob 
the  people  of  their  money  and  ruin  their  souls.  Your 
Church  must  lay  aside  this  terrible  sacrament  before  I 
return  to  her  embrace. 

Before  closing,  let  me  ask  you  one  question  :  Do  you 
believe  that  none  go  to  heaven  from  New  York  but 
those  to  whom  you  and  your  priests,  with  your  keys, 
open  its  gates  ?  It  takes  a  hard  heart  and  a  soft  head 
to  believe  this.     I  charge  you  with  neither. 

"With  respect,  yours,  Kirwan. 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  163 

Miraculous  power.  A  fear  The  claim  vindicated. 


LETTER   IV. 

-Miracles. — Milner's  Vindication. — Many  Examples. — Legends  of  the 
Saints. — A  Miracle  of  my  own  working. — AMiy  so  few  Miracles 
since  the  Reformation. 

My  dear  Sir,' — Another  reason  which  prevents  my 
return  to  the  bosom  of  your  Church  I  draw  from  the 
miraculous  power  claimed  for  your  saints  and  clergy. 
I  have  felt  disposed  to  say  nothing  on  this  subject,  be- 
cause of  the  extravagance  of  the  claim  itself,  and  be- 
cause of  my  reluctance  to  state  the  absurdities  which 
crowd  the  legends  of  your  saints,  and  which  your 
Church  has  palmed,  and  yet  palms,  on  the  world  as 
miracles.  I  feel  afraid  that  some  candid  papist  will 
conclude  that  I  have  at  last  commenced  drawing  on 
my  imagination,  and  that  the  influence  of  my  former 
reasoning  with  him  will  be  weakened  by  the  utter,  the 
intense  absurdity  of  the  miracles  claimed  for  your 
saints  which  I  shall  quote.  But,  pledging  myself  to 
fairness  of  statement,  I  will  risk  the  consequences. 

Milner,  as  you  know,  devotes  his  twenty-third  let- 
ter to  vindicate  the  possession  of  this  power  by  your 
Church.  He  says,  "The  Catholic  Churcli  being  al- 
ways the  beloved  spouse  of  Chri.st,  and  continuing  at 
all  times  to  bring  forth  children  of  heroic  sanctity, 
God  fails  not  in  this,  any  more  than  in  past  ages,  to  il- 
lustrate her  and  them  by  untiucstionable  miracles  :  ac- 
cordingly, in  those  procossrs  which  are  constantly  go- 
ing on   at  the  Apo.stojical  St-n  f<tr  Ibf  r';inoi)izntif)ii  f)f 


164  Kill  WAN 's     LKTTliUS 


Prophetic  nun.  Arrowsiniih's  hiuui.  Mary  Wooil 

new  saiiits,  fresh  miracles  of  a  recent  date  continue  to 
be  proved,  with  the  highest  degree  of  evidence,  as  I  can 
testify  from  having  perused,  on  the  spot,  the  official 
printed  account  of  some  of  them."  And  miraculous 
power  is  claimed  by  all  your  writers,  and  is  put  forth 
as  an  evidence  of  yours  being  the  true  Church ;  and  its 
absence  from  Protestant  churches  is  considered  by  you 
a  conclusive  evidence  against  them. 

]\rilner  not  only  claims  this  power  for  your  Church, 
but  gives  the  following  miracles  that  were  performed, 
to  his  own  certain  knowledge  and  belief:  Twenty 
years  before  it  happened,  a  nun  predicted  the  fate  of 
the  King  and  Q,ueen  of  France,  Louis  XVI.  and  his 
consort,  who  were  beheaded.  In  1814,  Joseph  Lamb 
fell  from  a  hay-rick  and  injured  his  spine.  At  Gars- 
wood,  in  England,  is  preserved  the  hand  of  one  Arrow- 
smith,  a  priest,  who  was  put  to  death  at  Lancaster  in 
the  rei^n  of  Charles  I.  Lamb  was  signed  on  the  back 
by  this  hand  with  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  was  in- 
stantly healed  !  In  1809,  Mary  "Wood,  in  striving  to 
open  a  window,  greatly  injured  her  arm,  so  as  almost 
to  lose  the  use  of  it.  She  employed  physicians  in  vain. 
She  finally  had  recourse  to  God  through  St.  Winfred, 
by  a  Novena — that  is,  prayers  offered  for  nine  days. 
She  put  a  piece  of  moss  from  the  saint's  well  on  her 
arm,  and  it  was  instantly  restored !  Miss  Winifred 
White,  for  some  time  diseased  with  a  curvature  of  the 
spine,  was  healed  in  an  instant  of  time  by  bathing  in 
Holywell !  Milner  was  not  a  witness  of  any  of  these 
miracles,  but  they  were  proved  true  to  his  satisfaction ! 
Marvelous  marvels ! 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  165 


Oxford  divines.  Many  miracles.  Fervent  piety. 

Now,  sir,  permit  me  to  add  to  these  miracles  a  few 
others  from  the  Legends  of  the  Saints,  and  no  doubt 
equally  well  attested  as  those  adduced  by  the  learned 
Milner.  As  I  have  but  few  of  these  legends  before  me, 
I  will  quote  from  a  recent  review  of  the  "  Lives  of  the 
English  Saints,"  now  in  a  course  of  publication  by 
those  marvelous  men,  the  Oxford  divines,  worthy  of  a 
place  in  the  museum  as  Protestant  curiosities. 

Somewhere  near  York,  St.  Augustine  restored  a  blind 
man  to  his  sight.  St.  Sulpicius,  when  a  mere  child, 
drove  away,  with  the  sign  of  the  cross,  two  black  de- 
mons who  strove  to  scare  him  from  his  devotions.  St. 
Amatus  miraculously  stopped  a  lofty  rock  in  its  de- 
scent, with  which  a  fiend  sought  to  crush  him  in  his 
cell.  The  father  of  St.  Furccus  contracted  a  clandes- 
tine marriage  with  a  king's  daughter.  Wlien  the  king 
found  that  she  was  likely  to  be  a  mother,  he  ordered 
her  to  be  burned.  She  shed  such  a  flood  of  tears  as  to 
put  out  the  fire.  Finding  he  could  not  burn,  he  ban- 
ished her,  and  Furccus  was  born  in  a  foreign  land.  St. 
Mochua  had  to  call  the  stags  from  the  forest  to  feed  the 
multitude  of  his  followers.  He  ordered  their  picked 
bones  to  be  placed  in  their  .skins,  and  by  an  incantation 
over  the  skins  and  bones,  the  stags  were  brought  to 
life,  jumped  up,  and  ran  back  to  the  woods.  St.  Eu- 
chadius  did  the  same  with  an  old  favorite  crow  that  he 
had  to  kill  to  provide  meat  for  his  guests.  The  piety 
of  St.  Fechin  was  so  fervent,  that  when  he  batlicd  him- 
self in  cold  water,  the  water  became  almost  boiling 
hot.  When  St.  Mochua  wanted  a  fire  in  his  cell,  he 
called  down  a  fire  from  heaven  to  light  it,     St.  Goar 


166  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 


Marvelous  marvils.  Thievish  crows.  The  ass. 

of  Treves,  wanting  a  beam  to  hang  up  his  cape,  hung 
it  on  a  sunbeam,  where  it  remained  until  he  took  it 
down.  St.  Columbanus  miraculously  kept  the  grubs 
from  his  cabbage.  When  St.  Mael  was  in  want  of 
fishes,  he  cavight  them  on  dry  ground ;  and  St.  Berach, 
when  in  want  of  fruit,  made  willows  to  bear  apples. 
St.  Fechin,  when  hungry,  turned  acorns  into  pork.  In 
traveling,  he  was  stopped  by  a  large  tree  which  fell 
across  his  road ;  he  commanded  it  to  make  way,  and 
it  instantly  rose  to  its  place.  He  built  a  mill  on  a  hill- 
top :  being  asked  about  the  water,  he  went  to  a  lake  a 
mile  distant,  into  which  ho  threw  his  stick ;  the  stick 
followed  him  on  his  return,  and  the  water  after  it,  and 
the  mill  worked  finely.  Some  thievish  crows  carried 
away  some  of  the  thatch  of  St.  Cuthbert's  hut  to  build 
their  nests  :  at  his  rebuke,  they  not  only  made  an  apol- 
ogy, but  they  brought  him  a  piece  of  hog's  lard  to  make 
amends  for  the  injury.  To  this  miracle  Bede  testifies. 
A  raven  plucked  out  the  eye  of  an  ass  of  St.  James  of 
Tarentaise :  the  saint  made  a  hasty  invocation,  and 
the  raven  immediately  returned  and  put  the  eye  in  its 
place,  without  the  least  injury  to  the  ass.  St.  Augus- 
tine was  treated  with  insults  in  a  certain  town  in  En- 
gland, the  fishmongers  being  especially  active  in  the 
bad  work,  hanging  the  tails  of  fish  upon  his  garments 
and  those  of  his  followers.  For  generations  afterward, 
the  children  of  that  place  were  born  with  tails. 

Your  legends  narrate  miracles  like  these  to  any 
amount ;  and  they  are  now  reproduced  from  the  French 
and  English  press,  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  the 
faith  of  the  pious !     Wonderful  as  these  are,  they  are 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  167 

St.  Fechin.  St.  Francis.  St.  Fechin  beaten. 

by  no  means  more  wonderful  than  many  narrated  in 
"the  Legends  of  the  Canonized  of  1839,"  a  hook  puh- 
Hshed  in  Rome,  and  translated  and  published  by  Car- 
dinal Wiseman  in  London. 

And  some  of  the  saints  wrought  a  profusion  of  mir- 
acles. St.  Fecliin  was  a  wonderful  hand  at  them. 
St.  Francis  far  surj^assed  the  Savior  himself.  Christ 
was  transfigured  but  once  —  St.  Francis  more  than 
twenty  times.  St.  Francis  and  his  disciples  restored 
more  than  a  thousand  blind  to  sight — and  more  than 
a  thousand  lame  to  the  use  of  their  limbs — and  more 
than  a  thousand  dead  to  life  ! 

Now,  sir,  while  these  things  are  gravely  narrated  in 
your  legends,  and  arc  read  by  your  common  people, 
from  your  own  books,  with  the  most  pious  belief  in 
their  truth,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  this  state- 
ment of  them  will  be  denounced  as  a  bundle  of  Prot- 
estant lies  I  When  a  boy,  I  read  a  life  of  St.  Francis 
Xavier,  which  narrated  miracles  wrought  by  him  far 
.surpassing  any  here  cited. 

But  why  go  to  the  miracles  of  the  legends  ?  You  arc 
daily  pcrftjrming  miracles  which  come  up  to  any  of 
them  I  Your  daily  changing  of  a  wafer  into  the  real 
body  of  Christ,  and  then  eating  liim,  beats  any  thing 
St.  Fechin  ever  did.  Your  preparing  an  old  sinner  for 
heaven  by  rubbing  him  with  olive  oil,  and  then  open- 
ing its  gates  to  him  by  the  keys  which  arc  only  in 
your  possession,  far  surpasses  Fechin's  turning  acorns 
to  pork.  We  believe  the  swine  themselves  are  con- 
stantly doing  this  work  of  tnm.substantiatiou  in  our 
western  woods.     And  in  Ireland  yonr  j)riests  are  con- 


168  K  I  U  AV  A  N  '  S     L  K  T  T  K  U  S 

Heated  tongs.  My  own  iniraclcs.  Tlic  Ucvil's  horns. 

stantly  performing  miraculous  cures  on  men  and  cat- 
tle. Even  your  common  people  there  work  miracles. 
Wlien  a  thunder-storm  is  raging,  they  kindle  a  fire, 
and  heat  the  tongs  red-hot.  This  preserves  their  cat- 
tle from  the  lightning.  If  they  are  killed  notwith- 
standing, it  is  in  chastisement  for  some  sins  not  con- 
fessed, or  some  penances  not  rightly  performed.  Per- 
haps, sir,  it  may  astonish  you  when  I  tell  you  that  I 
myself,  while  yet  in  your  faith,  wrought  two  or  three. 
Near  my  father's  residence  was  a  wood  in  which  a 
man  was  once  killed.  His  ghost  was  regularly  seen 
after  dark.  I  never  passed  through  that  wood  with- 
out crossing  myself,  and  saying  Hail  Mary ;  and  I  as- 
sure you  I  never  saw  the  ghost !  After  dusk,  in  the 
spring  of  the  year,  I  was  sent  on  an  errand  to  a  neigh- 
bor's house,  which  was  separated  from  ours  by  two  or 
three  fields.  As  I  ran  along,  I  saw  through  the  mag- 
nifying twilight  what  was  obviously  an  evil  spirit. 
I  stopped  suddenly,  and  the  sweat  commenced  pour- 
ing. Naturally  of  a  resolute  spirit,  I  thus  reasoned : 
If  I  run  back,  he  can  catch  me  ;  if  I  go  forward,  he  can 
but  catch  me.  So,  after  saying  my  Hail  Mary,  and 
crossing  myself,  I  went  forward  with  a  trembling  step. 
As  I  advanced,  the  horns  of  the  fiend  became  perfectly 
obvious.  Almost  dead  with  fear,  I  rushed  forward  and 
caught  hold  of  them  ;  and,  marvelous  to  narrate,  those 
fiendish  horns  were  instantly  turned  into  the  handles 
of  a  plow  I  Now  I  submit  it  to  you,  sir,  whether  these 
miracles  wrought  by  myself  are  not  as  great  as  those 
wrought  by  St.  Mochua  or  St.  Columbanus  ?  And  yet 
I  fear  my  chance  for  canonization  is  exceedingly  small. 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  169 


Solicitation.  AN'orthless.  Will  you  do  it  i 


I  would  ask  you  to  interfere  for  me ;  but,  as  the  Pope 
has  not  yet  granted  you  the  red  cap  and  stockings,  I 
fear  your  influence  at  the  Vatican,  as  in  America,  is 
on  the  wane. 

But,  considering  the  grave  effects  which  have  fol- 
lowed this  claim  of  yours,  it  ought  not,  perhaps,  to  he 
treated  lightly,  and  yet  it  is  difHcult  to  treat  it  other- 
wise. 

Now,  .sir,  will  you  say  that  the  miracles  adduced  by 
Milner  arc  worthy  of  a  moment's  consideration  ?  Look 
at  them  again.  A  man  hurt  his  back  by  faUing  from 
a  hay-rick,  and  is  cured  by  a  dead  man's  hand !  A 
girl,  in  opening  a  window,  cut  her  arm,  and  felt  diffi- 
culty in  using  it ;  she  puts  on  a  piece  of  moss,  and  her 
arm  gets  well  I  Another  girl  has  a  diseased  spine  ;  she 
is  cured  by  bathing  in  Holywell  I  Are  these  proofs  to 
any  mind  that  your  Church  possesses  miraculous  pow- 
er ?  If  these  are  not,  can  the  miracles  selected  from 
the  legends  of  the  Middle  Ages  be  ? 

Can  you,  for  a  moment,  place  any  of  your  miracles 
on  an  equality  with  those  wrought  by  the  Savior  and 
his  apostles  ?  Milner  docs  it,  sad  I  am  to  say,  but  will 
you,  John  Hughes,  do  it,  and  in  the  city  of  New  York  ? 
What  I  plae(j  these  marvels  of  lying  legends,  the  pro- 
ductions of  infamous  monks  of  the  Dark  Ages,  who 
made  .saints  of  necromanctsrs,  and  miracles  of  witch 
stories,  on  the  same  foundation  as  the  miracles  of 
Chri.st !  Will  you  gravely  tell  us  that  if  wo  deny  the 
one  wc  must  dr-ny  the  other  ?  Jf  I  deny  that  the  fer- 
vor of  llic  pif;ly  of  St.  Fcchin  almost  made  the  rold 
water  to   boil   in  which  Im;  bath(!d,  must  J  also  deny 

II 


170  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 


Scriptural  and  [lopisli  miracles.  Why  none  in  New  York. 

that  Christ  raised  Lazarus  from  the  grave  ?  Will  you, 
claiming  to  be  a  bishop  in  the  Church  of  God,  say  that 
these  miracles  are  sustained  by  evidence  equally  con- 
clusive as  those  of  the  Scriptures  ?  This  I  will  only 
believe  when  you  say  so. 

Compare  the  object  of  scriptural  and  popish  mira- 
cles. The  one  are  divine  attestations  to  the  truth ; 
the  other,  to  yours  being  the  true  Church.  How  dif- 
ferent these  objects  !  And  they  are  no  more  different 
than  the  miracles.  And  in  point  of  force  and  evidence, 
Milner's  miracles  can  not  be  compared  to  those  of  Irv- 
ing, or  of  our  own  Mormons.  Indeed,  a  common  trav- 
eling juggler  could  beat  them  all. 

If  your  Church  possesses  miraculous  power,  why  so 
sparing  of  its  use  since  the  Reformation  ?  If  they  are 
not  all  impostures,  why  so  many  in  Ireland,  while  there 
are  none  in  Scotland ;  why  so  many  in  France  and 
Spain,  and  so  few  in  New  York  ?  Come  out  in  the 
open  view  of  some  intelligent  Protestants,  and  cure  a 
man  that  was  born  blind,  or  raise  one  from  the  grave 
that  lay  there  until  putrefaction  commenced,  and  then 
Ave  will  ask  you  to  excuse  the  utter  scorn  with  which, 
until  then,  we  must  treat  your  impostures.  My  dear 
sir,  the  world  will  not  forget  the  history  of  Hohenlohe, 
the  modern  St.  Fechin.  He  was  forbidden  to  work  his 
miracles  save  in  the  presence  of  some  commissioners 
and  physicians :  he  appealed  to  the  Pope.  The  holy 
father  enjoined  him  to  conform.  From  that  hour  his 
miracles  have  ceased. 

"  Ghosts  prudently  withdraw  at  peep  of  day." 

Miracles  were  vouchsafed  by  God  divinely  to  attest 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  171 

Miracles  withdrawn.  Nearest  to  them.  Bad  asthma. 

the  truth  of  the  G-ospel.  This  power  was  vouchsafed 
to  the  apostles,  and  was  continued  in  the  Church  un- 
til the  truth  of  the  Grospel  was  established.  Then  it 
was  withdrawn.  Since  the  rise  of  popery  there  has 
been  no  miracle  wrought.  The  nearest  approach  to 
one  that  I  now  remember,  for  fourteen  hundred  years, 
is  the  fact  that  yom-  Church  could  gain  such  a  gener- 
al credence  for  its  absurdities,  and  make  men  beheve 
that  she  could  work  miracles. 

You  must  give  up  your  lying  legends  and  your  claim 
to  miraculous  power  before  I  can  return  to  your  fold. 
I  feel  as  did  our  fellow-countryman  with  the  bad  asth- 
ma, who  exclaimed,  "  If  once  I  can  get  this  trouble- 
some breath  out  of  my  body,  I'll  take  good  care  it  shall 
never  get  in  again." 

With  respect,  yours,  Kirwan. 


172  K  I  II  ^V  A  N  '  S     I,  E  T  'I'  K  R  S 

Exclusive  claims.  Poor  man's  catechism. 


LETTER   V. 

Marks  of  the  Papal  being  the  true  Church  considered. — Unity — Sancti- 
ty— Catholicity — Apostolicity — Infallibility. 

Reverend  and  dear  Sir, — In  the  present  letter  I 
wish  to  place  before  you  another  of  my  reasons  for  not 
returning  to  the  Church  of  my  fathers,  drawn  from  the 
exclusive  claims  of  your  Church — claims  which,  if 
well  founded,  consign  to  eternal  damnation  all  who  re- 
fuse to  helieve  its  doctrines  or  to  submit  to  its  authori- 
ty. That  these  claims  are  put  forth,  you  will  not  deny. 
You  glory  in  them.  Milner  and  Butler  assert  them, 
and  seek  to  sustain  them  by  Scripture  and  reason. 
"  The  Poor  Man's  Catechism,"  from  which  I  like  to 
quote,  because  it  is  the  channel  through  which  you 
seek  to  impress  the  common  mind,  says,  "  Those  who 
submit  not  to  the  doctrine  and  authority  of  the  Holy 
Catholic  Church  are  all  out  of  her  communion ;  as 
pagans,  infidels,  Turks,  Jews,  heretics,  and  schismat- 
ics," And  by  the  Holy  Catholic  Church  is  meant  that 
church  whose  head  is  the  Pope.  This  is  sufficiently 
explicit.  So  that,  in  your  estimation  and  in  that  of 
your  Church,  the  Protestant  churches  around  you  arc 
no  better  than  Jewish  synagogues  or  pagan  temples ; 
the  people  that  worship  in  them  are  no  better  than 
Turks  or  pagans ;  and  such  men  as  the  late  excellent 
Milnor,  as  Spring,  Knox,  Bangs,  Williams,  Wainwright, 
Skinner,  your  contemporaries,  and  equals,  and  fellow- 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  173 

Treated  as  infidels.  Logical  guillotine. 

citizens,  are  no  better  than  Hume,  Voltaire,  G-ibbon,  or, 
at  least,  than  Jewish  rabbis,  Turkish  muftis,  or  Hin- 
doo priests  who  mingle  their  blood  with  their  sacrifices. 
That  such  is  your  belief  is  apparent  in  your  conduct. 
You  and  your  priests  so  treat  them.  The  belief  of 
your  people  is,  that  all  beyond  the  pale  of  your  Church 
are  devoted  to  destruction.  I  remember  the  day  when 
I  had  no  more  doubt  of  it  than  of  my  own  existence. 
If  there  are  papists  who  believe  otherwise,  and  who  ex- 
ercise a  charitable  hope  as  to  the  salvation  of  Protest- 
ants— as  I  believe  there  are  many — so  far  forth  they 
are  not  papists.  That  the  number  of  such  is  rapidly, 
multiplying  in  our  country  should  prove  to  you  how 
rapidly  your  terrible  system  is  falling  to  pieces. 

The  process  by  which  you  reach  this  terrible  dogma 
is  a  very  short  one.  There  is  no  salvation  out  of  the 
true  Church  ;  the  Roman  Catholic  is  the  true  Church ; 
therefore  there  is  no  salvation  out  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church.  Here  is  your  logical  and  theological 
guillotine,  by  which  you  sever  the  hopes  which  bind 
mUlions  of  your  race  to  God  and  heaven,  who  servo 
one  and  deserve  the  other  at  least  as  well  as  you  do. 
And,  tlien,  the  marks  of  yours  being  the  true  Church 
you  parade  before  us  with  as  much  confidence  as  if 
they  were  true,  and  with  as  much  assurance  as  if  they 
were  never,  instead  of  being  a  thou.sand  times,  refuted. 
Permit  me,  in  the  briefest  manner,  to  consider  each  of 
these  marks.  Thfiy  are  Unity,  Hanctity,  Catholicity, 
Apostolicity,  and  Infallibility. 

Your  first  mark  is  Unily.  Has  yur  Church  this 
mark  ?     In  what  one  thing  are  you  united  ?     Not  in 


174  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

Unity.  Where  fuund.  Fierce  contests. 

the  head  of  the  Church.  You  have  a  Pope  ;  some  say, 
others  deny,  that  he  is  the  head.  One  goes  for  the 
Pope,  another  for  a  general  council,  a  third  for  both 
united.  Is  this  unity  ?  But,  if  we  admit  your  unity, 
what  follows  ?  Does  the  agreement  of  numbers  in 
maintaining  error  and  superstition  prove  that  in  which 
they  are  united  true  ?  Then  paganism,  Mohammed- 
anism, and  Budhism  may  be  proved  divine.  These 
sy.stems  have  more  followers  than  you  can  boast. 

You  are  not  agreed  as  to  the  authoritative  councils 
of  your  Church.  You  are  yet  agitated  by  controver- 
sies on  the  subject.  Nor  are  you  agreed  in  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Bible.  Never  were  Arminians  and  Cal- 
vinists  more  widely  separated  on  these  matters  than 
you  are.  Look  at  the  fierce  contentions  of  your  Jan- 
senists  and  Jesuits,  unsettled  to  the  present  hour.  If 
united,  what  meant  the  fierce  controversies  of  your 
Scotists  and  Thomists  ?  of  your  canonists  and  school- 
men ?  of  your  Nominalists  and  Realists  ?  But  I  can 
not  weary  you  and  my  readers  on  this  matter.  You 
talk  about  the  differences  among  Protestants ;  they 
are  not  to  be  compared  to  those  among  papists.  Y'ou 
put  into  my  hand  Bossuet's  "  Variations  of  Protest- 
ants ;"  I  put  into  yours  "  Edgar's  Variations  of  Pope- 
ry." Where  Protestants  differ  in  one  point,  papists  dif- 
fer in  five ;  where  they  differ  in  minor  matters,  you 
differ  in  the  veriest  essentials.  Protestants  agree  as 
to  the  Head  of  the  Church,  Christ,  and  as  to  the  rule 
of  the  Church,  the  Bible.     Y'"ou  difler  as  to  both. 

True,  you  have  an  apparent  external  unity,  but 
how  have  you  gotten  it  ?     What  is  it  worth  ?     You 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  175 

Lopping  off.  Horrible  slavery.  Sanctity. 

set  up  monstrous  claims,  and  all  who  do  not  admit 
them  you  cast  off.  Milner's  "  Apostolical  Tree"  shows 
how  the  work  of  lopping  off  has  progressed.  You  have 
laid  the  axe  upon  every  green  and  fruitful  branch, 
and  the  old  stump  and  withered  branches  remain,  a 
unity  !  And  what  is  your  unity  worth  ?  If  I  return 
to  your  Church,  "  I  must  believe  whatever  the  Holy 
Catholic  Church  believes  and  teaches."  This  I  must 
do  without  knowing,  and  without  ever  being  able  to 
know,  all  that  she  believes  and  teaches.  I  must  put 
myself  into  your  hands,  and  give  you  power  to  think 
for  me  and  to  believe  for  me ;  and  then  I  must  be- 
heve  and  swear  to  what  you  thus  think  and  believe 
for  me,  at  the  peril  of  being  cut  off  and  cast  into  the 
fire.  Sir,  this  Is  horrible  slavery.  Do  you  think  men 
will  long  submit  to  it  ? 

Your  boasted  unity  is  a  fable,  your  apparent  unity 
is  slavery.  You  present  a  united  front  in  your  oppo- 
sition to  Protestants,  but  never  were  the  bowels  of  the 
victim  of  the  Asiatic  cholera  more  terribly  convulsed 
than  is  the  bosom  of  your  Church  by  distracting  con- 
troversies. Your  priests,  and  bishops,  and  people  may 
fight  as  they  may,  but  they  arc  a  unity  as  long  as  they 
remain  within  the  same  organization.  If  one  of  them 
secedes,  if  you  can  not  kill  him,  you  damn  him,  for  the 
sake  of  unity. 

Your  next  mark  is  Hanclilji.  I  admit  that  sancti- 
ty, or  holin(!ss,  is  a  mark  of  a  true  disciple  and  of  a 
true  church.  The  people  and  Church  of  Christ  .should 
be  holy  in  all  manner  of  conversation.  Sanctity  you 
claim  for  your  Church  as  one  of  its  distinguishing 


176  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

Doctrines  corrupted.  Sacraments.  Fruits  of  holiness. 

marks.  But  in  what  is  it  manifested?  You  reply, 
first,  in  her  doctrines.  But  what  doctrine  of  the  Bible 
has  not  your  Church  corrupted  ?  What  institution 
has  it  not  perverted  ?  And  so  conscious  is  your  Church 
of  this,  that  it  withholds  the  unadulterated  word  from 
the  people.  Yovi  reply  again,  in  the  means  of  holi- 
ness. By  these  you  mean  the  sacraments.  But  you 
have  grievously  perverted  the  only  two  sacraments  in- 
stituted by  Christ,  and  you  have  added  to  them  five 
which  have  no  divine  authority,  and  whose  only  object 
is  to  give  you  power,  and  to  obtain  for  you  "  the  alms 
'and  the  suffrages  of  the  faithful."  You  reply  again, 
in  her  fruits  of  holiness.  By  these  you  mean  the  vir- 
tues practiced  by  papists.  I  could  not,  for  a  moment, 
deny  the  true  piety  of  many  papists,  the  exalted  piety 
of  some ;  but  will  you,  sir,  assert  that  the  piety  and 
virtues  of  your  people  are  so  much  more  resplendent 
than  those  of  any,  or  all  other  people,  as  to  mark  yours 
as  the  true  Church  ?  If  so,  it  seems  to  me  that  you 
would  assert  that  Jupiter  surpasses  the  moon,  and  the 
moon  the  sun,  in  brightness.  The  evidences  to  the 
contrary  are  no  more  apparent  in  the  one  case  than  in 
the  other.  Look  at  the  mass  of  your  clergy  in  the 
sunniest  days  of  your  Church,  and  what  were  their 
fruits  of  holiness  ?  Your  own  historians  being  wit- 
nesses, what  were  the  fruits  of  your  nunneries,  your 
monasteries,  your  monks,  and  your  other  orders,  when 
there  were  no  Protestants  to  unveil  their  enormities  ? 
What  are  now  the  fruits  of  your  religion  in  the  states 
of  South  America  ?  Have  you  seen  the  testimony  of 
Mr.  Thompson,  our  late  minister  to  Mexico,  as  to  the 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  177 

Comparison  at  home.  Catholiciiy.  Tested. 

papal  clergy  of  that  country  ?     As  to  the  fruits  of  holi- 
ness, compare  Spain,  Italy,  with  Scotland  or  New  En- 


gland. 


But  I  will  not  proceed  with  the  comparison  farther 
than  to  ask  you  to  compare  the  Protestant  ministry  of 
New  York  with  the  papal — the  congregation  of  St. 
Patrick's  with  any  largo  and  wealthy  Protestant  con- 
gregation in  the  city,  as  to  the  fruits  of  hohness,  and 
you  yourself  will  be  astonished  at  the  difference.  The 
general  rule  is,  that  purely  papal  countries  arc  those 
most  debased  and  immoral,  and  purely  Protestant  coun- 
tries are  those  most  enlightened,  and  most  abounding 
in  every  good  work.  The  tenth  century,  the  noonday 
of  popery,  was  the  midnight  of  our  race.  Nor  does  the 
liistory  of  the  world  present  such  evidences  of  unbri- 
dled, overgrown  depravity  as  does  the  history  of  your 
Church. 

Your  next  mark  is  Catholicity.  You  claim  this 
title  for  your  Church  as  to  time,  persons,  and  places. 
As  to  time,  your  Church  rose  upon  the  ruins  of  that 
founded  by  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and  centuries  after 
their  death.  The  peculiar  doctrines  and  ceremonies  of 
popery  were  derived  from  the  heathen,  and  were  in- 
grafted on  Christianity.  Instead  of  your  Church,  as 
you  claim,  being  identified  with  that  of  Christ  and  his 
apostles,  there  is  not  an  essential  particular  in  which 
it  is  not  in  opposition  to  it.  I  admit,  as  to  persons, 
that  yours  is  a  very  numerous  Church ;  but  it  never 
formed  a  third  part  of  ChrLstendom.  Is  the  standard 
of  tnith  the  numbers  that  profc^.ss  it  ?  Then  Chris- 
tianity was  a  lie  while  in  the  minority;  and  .so  it  is  a 

IT  2 


178  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

An  empty  boast.  Apostolicity.  Tested. 

lie  yet,  because,  taking  our  whole  race  together,  vastly 
in  the  minority.  So  I  admit,  as  to  places,  that  popery 
is  very  widely  diffused.  But  is  not  Protestantism  also  ? 
"Where  has  a  papist  gained  foothold  where  there  is  not 
a  Protestant  ?  So  that  your  claim  to  this  mark  is  as 
absurd  as  it  is  groundless.  Your  catholicity  is  a  vain 
and  empty  boast.  There  is  a  catholic  Church,  but  it 
is  not  yours. 

Your  next  mark  is  Apostolicity — ^that  is,  a  regular 
succession  from  the  apostles  in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter. 
Now,  sir,  this  claim  is  put  forth  by  other  churches  as 
strongly  as  yours,  and  on  foundations  even  stronger 
than  yours.  I  now  refer  to  the  Armenian,  Nestorian, 
and  Syriac  churches,  which  were  founded  before  the 
Gospel  was  preached  at  Rome.  It  is  beyond  the  pow- 
er of  man  to  establi.sh  this  claim.  If  established,  must 
we  receive  as  a  true  minister  every  man  coming  to  us 
in  the  regular  line,  whatever  be  his  doctrines  or  mor- 
als ?  "Wliat  is  the  test  of  apostolicity  ?  Is  it  succes- 
sion or  doctrines  ?  Most  obviously  doctrines.  "  If 
there  come  any  one  unto  you,  and  bring  not  this  doc- 
trine, receive  him  not  into  your  house,  neither  bid  him 
G-od  speed."  Standing  upon  this  one  text,  I  would 
turn  you  away  from  my  door,  even  had  I  seen  the 
hands  of  all  the  apostles  upon  your  head,  unless  you 
preached  their  doctrines.  Why,  the  strong  language 
of  Paul  would  even  warrant  me  to  curse  you,  coming 
to  me  with  your  claim  of  succession,  without  apostoh- 
cal  doctrine.  Read  it :  "  But  though  we,  or  an  angel 
from  heaven,  preach  any  other  Gospel  unto  you  than 
that  we  have  preached,  let  him  be  accursed."     Sir,  if 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  179 

Saccession  from  Judas.  Infallibility.  How  ? 

I  try  your  succession  by  your  doctrine,  the  true  test  of 
succession,  I  could  soon  place  you  among  those  who 
said  they  were  apostles,  and  were  not.  From  what 
apostle,  save  Judas,  many  are  descended  who  are  cry- 
ing out  apostolical  succession  I  apostolical  succession  I 
I  can  not  conceive. 

Your  next  mark  is  Infallibility .  Under  all  the 
circumstances  of  the  case,  this  claim  is  truly  ludicrous. 
Where  is  the  seat  of  infallibility  ?  Some  say  it  resides 
in  the  Pope.  But  how  is  he  made  infallible  ?  The 
Pope  dies,  and  an  election  for  a  new  one  is  ordered. 
He  is  to  be  elected  from  the  cardinals — all  fallible  men, 
if  no  worse.  After  endless  intrigue,  and  boundless  cor- 
ruption, and  numerous  ballotings,  the  lot  falls  upon  a 
falhble  cardinal.  "Will  you  tell  me  how  such  an  elec- 
tion makes  him  infallible  ?  But  others  say  that  the 
Pope  is  not  infallible,  and  that  he  may  be  deposed  for 
heresy  ;  so  that  here  you  arc  divided. 

Some  say  the  seat  of  infallibility  is  a  general  coun- 
cil ;  but  how  is  this  ?  Here  are  three  hundred  fallible 
men  assembled  in  general  council :  how  do  they  be- 
come infallible  ?  "Will  you  tell  mo  the  process?  How 
do  finites  make  an  infinite?  Heap  them  up  as  you 
may,  are  they  not  a  heap  of  finites  ?  and  crowd  togeth- 
er as  many  fallible  men  as  you  may,  arc  they  any 
thing  else  than  a  crowd  of  fallibles  ?  But  by  what 
chemical  or  alchemical  j)roccss  can  you  deduce  the  in- 
fallible from  the  fallible  ? 

Nor  is  this  the  worst.  AVc  riinl  onr,  general  council 
denouncing  another — the  ('hurch  of  one  ago  contra- 
dicting the  Church  of  another.     The  seat  of  infallibil- 


180  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

I'roofs  of  lUlliliility.  Mother  of  Imrlots.  Simply  wicked. 

ity  is  thus  undetermined  by  you,  while  the  proofs  of 
your  Church's  fallibility  fill  the  world.  It  is  infallibly 
certain  that  your  Church  is  fallible. 

Thus  is  your  Church  utterly  destitute  of  every  mark 
of  being  the  true  Church,  which  you  claim  for  it.  Its 
unity  is  discord  or  slavery — its  sanctity  is  corruption 
— its  catholicity  is  assumption — its  apostolicity  and  in- 
fallibility each  a  lie.  Could  I  speak  of  your  Church  in 
the  masculine  and  feminine  gender,  as  do  some  of  your 
writers,  instead  of  admitting  her  to  be  the  one  holy, 
catholic,  apostolical,  and  infallible  Church,  I  would  call 
her  the  mother  of  harlots  and  the  father  of  lies — the 
man  of  sin  fully  revealed,  with  "  powers,  and  signs, 
and  lying  wonders." 

And  yet,  while  common  sense  rejects  your  claims, 
and  common  reason  disproves  them,  and  the  Bible  de- 
nies them,  unless  in  the  case  of  invincible  ignorance, 
you  cut  off  all  beyond  your  pale  from  all  communion 
with  G-od — from  all  hope  of  heaven  !  I  regard  this  as 
simply  wicked.  To  gain  your  point,  you  rob  the  Father 
of  us  all  of  his  goodness  ;  man  you  drive  to  despair,  and 
you  convert  Grod  into  a  tyrant.  If  a  boat  were  as  rot- 
ten as  I  believe  your  Church  to  be,  I  would  not  trust  it 
to  carry  me  across  the  North  River ;  and  yet  it  claims 
the  entire  monopoly  of  carrying  to  heaven  all  the  souls 
that  ever  enter  it,  and  for  no  reason,  human  or  divine, 
that  I  can  see,  unless  it  be  for  the  freight  and  the  toll  I 

My  Bible  tells  me,  sir,  that  whosoever  belie veth  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  shall  be  saved.  The  sincere 
believers  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whether  in  yoiir 
Church,  or  other  churches,  or  in  no  church,  form  a  part 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  181 

True  believers.  The  world  revolts. 

of  that  church  which  Christ  will  present  to  the  Father 
without  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing.  By  set- 
ting up  its  claim  to  be  the  only  true  Church — by  deny- 
ing salvation  to  all  but  your  own  members,  with  the 
exception  of  the  invincibly  ignorant,  you  deny  this  doc- 
trine of  the  Bible  and  of  my  faith ;  you  lay  down  a 
principle,  unsustained  by  sense  or  Scripture,  from  which 
the  mind  of  the  world  revolts,  and  from  which  my  soul 
turns  away  as  from  a  thing  the  most  offensive.  Your 
exclusive  claims  must  be  proved  or  abandoned,  from 
their  Alpha  to  their  Omega,  before  I  can  return  to  your 
Church. 

"With  respect,  yours,  Kiravan. 


182  "     kiravan's    letters 


Relics.  What  they  are.  To  be  honored. 


LETTER  VI. 

Relics. — Relics  the  Parent  of  Miracles. — The  Importance  of  Relics. 
— Specimens  of  Relics. — The  Abuses  of  Relics. — Indulgences — To 
whom  and  by  whom  granted — Their  fearful  Effects. 

Reverend  and  dear  Sir,' — Permit  me  to  ask  your 
kind  attention,  in  the  present  letter,  to  two  more  ob- 
jections which  prevent  my  return  to  your  Church, 
drawn  from  your  use  of  relics  and  indulgences.  The 
importance  which  you  attach  to  these  things,  and  the 
evils  which  flow  from  them,  demand  a  letter  for  the 
due  consideration  of  each ;  but  I  will  consider  them 
both  in  one,  and,  as  I  trust,  without  weakening  the 
force  of  my  objections. 

"  Relics  are  the  dead  bodies  or  bones  of  saints,  and 
ivhatever  belonged  to  them  in  their  mortal  lifeP  The 
clause  I  place  in  italics  enables  you  to  multiply  them 
indefinitely.  These  relics  are  honored  with  an  inferior 
and  relative,  but  not  with  divine  honor.  And  they  are 
honored,  1st,  because  they  were  the  temples  of  God ; 
2dly,  because  they  are  to  be  raised  from  the  dead ;  Sdly, 
because  of  their  miraculous  power ;  4thly,  because  they 
encourasfc  the  faithful  to  imitate  their  virtues.  This 
is  Challoner's  account  of  them,  with  which  that  of  Mil- 
ner  agrees. 

This  doctrine  of  relics  is  intimately  connected  with 
that  of  miracles — it  flows  from  it.  The  man  who  per- 
formed miracles  when  living,  should  be,  after  death. 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  183 

Relics  and  miracles.  Mine  of  wealth.  Names  of  churches. 

higlily  honored ;  his  hones  may  perform  them  after 
death ;  and,  as  in  many  cases  they  do  perform  them, 
their  rehcs  should  be  honored  with  an  inferior  and  rel- 
ative, hut  not  with  a  divine  honor.  Here  is  the  hnk 
which  connects  your  doctrine  of  relics  with  your  mir- 
acles. 

ReUcs  are  matters  of  immense  importance  to  Rome. 
They  are  to  your  churches  what  the  ark  of  the  cove- 
nant, and  the  pot  of  manna,  and  Aaron's  rod  that  bud- 
ded, were  to  the  Jewish  temple.  Hence  the  prodigious 
efforts  of  past  ages  to  obtain  relics,  and  the  enormous 
prices  paid  for  them  in  order  to  place  them  in  church- 
es, and  the  sleepless  vigilance  with  which  they  have 
been  guarded,  lest  they  should  be  stolen  for  the  adorn- 
ing of  new  churches  by  their  virtues.  They  have  been 
more  than  mines  of  wealth  to  Holy  Mother,  as  they 
have  brought  her  the  gold  and  the  silver,  without  the 
trouble  of  mining,  smelting,  or  coining  it. 

If  a  bone  or  a  relic  of  a  saint  could  bo  secured  for  a 
new  churcla,  the  church  was  called  by  his  name,  and 
placed  under  his  guardianship.  This  is  the  origin  of 
calHng  churches  after  the  names  of  saints.  And  thus 
nations  were  placed  under  the  guardianship  of  saints, 
as  Ireland  undf-r  that  of  St.  Patrick,  .Scotland  under 
that  of  St.  Andrew,  England  under  that  of  St.  George. 
So,  also,  cities  were  placed  under  the  care  of  saints,  and 
their  relics  were  esteemed  as  imparting  far  greater  se- 
curity against  as.sault  than  cannon,  walls,  or  biiKvarks. 
Constantino,  you  know,  defended  the  town  of  Nisibis 
with  the  dead  body  of  St.  James ;  and  when  the  Em- 
|)eror  Leo  dr-sirod  to  secure  the  relics  of  St.  Simon  the 


184  K  I  U  W  A  N  '  S     LETTERS 

Body  or  Simon.  Amusing  relics.  Those  in  St.  John  Lateran. 

Stylito  from  Antioch  for  the  purpose  of  defense,  the 
prudent  citizens  rephed,  "  Our  city  has  no  Avails,  and 
we  have  brought  here  the  body  of  kT^imon,  that  it  might 
serve  us  in  the  stead  of  walls  and  bulwarks."  And  so 
individuals  arc  placed  under  a  guardian  saint,  or  they 
select  one  for  themselves.  I  remember,  when  a  boy,  I 
had  one  myself,  but  his  name  I  am  utterly  unable  to 
recall.  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  you  will  say  he  was 
a  careless  fellow. 

There  is,  I  learn,  an  authentic  list  of  the  relics  deem- 
ed true  possessed  and  publi-shed  by  your  Church.  I 
have  never  seen  it.  It  must  be  a  very  curious  book. 
In  the  absence  of  your  catalogue,  I  select  a  few  of  the 
rehcs  greatly  venerated  by  papists  from  books  of  au- 
thority that  lie  before  me.  They  are  almost  as  amus- 
ing as  your  miracles.  I  will  omit  those  too  offensive  to 
be  named,  out  of  respect  for  you,  my  readers,  and  my- 
self* 

The  arms,  legs,  fingers,  toes,  of  the  saints  are  great- 
ly multiplied.  There  are  eight  arms  of  St.  Matthew, 
three  of  St.  John,  and  almost  any  number  of  St.  Thom- 
as a  Becket.  There  are,  in  the  Church  of  St.  John 
Lateran,  the  ark  made  by  Moses  in  the  wilderness,  the 
rod  of  Moses,  and  the  table  on  which  the  Last  Supper 
was  instituted  by  the  Savior.  The  table  is  entirely 
at  Rome ;  but  there  are  many  pieces  of  it  in  other 
places.  On  the  altar  of  the  Lateran  are  the  heads  of 
Peter  and  Paul  entire ;  but  there  are  pieces  of  them 
in  Bilboa,  greatly  honored  by  the  monks.  St.  Peter's 
Church  is  blessed  with  the  cross  of  the  penitent  thief; 

*  Sec  Letters  to  Chief  Justice  Taney,  p.  117. 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  185 

Pieces  of  the  cross.  St  Patrick's  stick.  Michael's  shield. 

with  the  lantern  of  Judas ;  with  the  dice  used  by  the 
soldiers  in  casting  lots  for  the  Savior's  garments  ;  with 
the  tail  of  Balaam's  ass,  and  with  the  axe,  saw,  and 
hammer  of  St.  Joseph.  Diflcrent  churches  arc  enrich- 
ed with  pieces  of  the  wood  of  the  cross  ;  and  were  the 
pieces  all  brought  together,  they  would  make  a  hund- 
red crosses.  In  one  church  is  some  of  the  manna  in 
the  wilderness ;  in  another,  some  blossoms  from  Aa- 
ron's rod  ;  in  another,  an  arm  of  St.  Simon  ;  in  another, 
the  picture  of  the  Virgin  painted  by  Luke ;  in  another, 
one  of  her  combs  ;  in  another,  the  combs  of  the  apos- 
tles, but  little  used  ;  in  another,  a  part  of  the  body  of 
St.  Lazarus,  that  smells  ;  in  another,  a  part  of  the  G-os- 
pel  of  Mark,  in  his  own  handwriting ;  in  another,  a  fin- 
ger of  St.  Ann,  the  Virgin's  sister  ;  in  another,  St.  Pat- 
rick's stick,  with  which  he  drove  venomous  reptiles 
from  Ireland  ;  in  another,  some  of  St.  Joseph's  breath, 
caught  by  an  angel  in  a  vial ;  in  another,  a  piece  of 
the  rope  with  which  Judas  hung  himself ;  in  another, 
some  of  the  Virgin's  hair ;  in  another,  some  of  her 
milk.  And  the  monks  once  showed  among  their  relics 
the  spear  and  shield  with  which  Michael  encountered 
the  dragon  of  Revelation  ;  and  some  relic-monger  had 
a  feather  from  the  wing  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  when,  tak- 
ing the  form  of  a  dove,  he  abode  upon  Christ  at  his  bap- 
tism I  On  the  miracles  wrought  by  the  relics  of  the 
saints  I  have  already  .sufTiciently  dwelt.  They  are  va- 
rious and  very  numerous.* 

I   will   not,  I   can  not,  here  dwtill   upon  tin;  awful 
abuses  of  your  doctrine  of  relics  ;  on  the  robbery  of  all 
*  See  Letters  to  Chief  JuHtico  Tanoy,  p.  108. 


186  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S      L  !•:  T  T  E  U  S 

Horrible  llrauds.  Where  their  prigin  .'  Where  their  virtue  ? 

kinds  of  graves  in  Palestine,  and  the  hawking  of  pil- 
fered hones  all  over  Europe ;  on  the  selling  of  old  wood, 
sufficient  to  warm  a  small  town  through  the  winter, 
as  pieces  of  the  cross  ;  on  the  selling  of  hands  and  feet 
of  particular  saints,  until  the  proof  is  positive  that  some 
of  the  favored  ones  had  as  many  hands  as  Briareus,  and 
as  many  feet  as  the  crawling  worm  we  call  the  centi- 
pede.    I  turn  from  the  abuse  to  the  doctrine. 

Now^,  sir,  where  is  the  origin  of  your  doctrine  of  rel- 
ics ?  Can  you  find  a  trace  of  it  in  the  New  Testament  ? 
Will  you  for  a  moment  compare  the  sham  miracles 
Avrought  at  the  tombs  of  some  of  your  saints  with  that 
wrought  by  the  bones  of  a  prophet  of  Israel  ?  Will 
you  dare  to  say  that  the  curing  of  a  sore  throat  by  a 
dead  man's  hand  is  to  be  placed  on  the  same  ground 
with  the  miraculous  cures  of  the  apostles  ?  I  venerate 
the  names — I  would  even  decorate  the  tombs  of  the 
good ;  but  what  virtue  is  there  in  a  bone  from  the 
body  of  Paul,  or  Peter,  or  in  a  slip  of  wood  from  the 
cross,  or  in  a  strand  from  the  rope  with  which  Judas 
hung  himself,  or  in  some  hairs  from  the  tail  of  the 
beast  which  Balaam  whipped  ? 

If  relics  ever  performed  miracles,  why  do  they  not 
perform  some  now  ?  Is  the  virtue  of  all  your  old  bones 
exhausted  ?  Where  is  the  holy  coat  of  Treves  ?  Where 
now  are  the  pilgrims  to  the  bones  of  Becket  ?  Where 
is  your  shop  in  New  York  for  the  sale  of  holy  teeth, 
and  holy  fingers,  and  holy  bones,  taken  from  the  graves 
of  the  saints?  Sir,  the  whole  matter  is  one  of  the 
vilest  impositions  ever  practiced  upon  the  credulity  of 
man.     I  do  not  charge  you  with  believing  a  word  of 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  187 

Indulgence.  Defined.  To  whom  granted,  and  for  what. 

it.  I  could  almost  as  soon  believe  in  the  virtue  of  the 
paring  of  the  toe-nails  of  some  of  your  saints,  as  admit 
that  a  man  of  your  sense  can  believe  in  these  things. 
"WTiy  not  cast  the  influence  of  your  name  and  office 
against  this  vilest  of  all  vile  impositions  ? 

But  I  must  hasten  to  a  brief  consideration  of  yovir 
doctrine  of  Indulgence  ;  and  how  shall  I  characterize 
it? 

Your  Church  teaches  that  sins  of  a  certain  charac- 
ter deserve  temporal  and  eternal  punishment.  Penance 
secures  the  remission  of  the  latter ;  indulgence  releases 
from  the  former ;  so  that  indulgences  secure  a  release 
from  the  debt  of  temporal  punishment. 

No  person  but  a  lineal  descendant  of  St.  Peter  can 
grant  an  indulgence  ;  and  that  all  such  have  the  pow- 
er of  granting  them  is  clearly  proved  by  the  fact  that 
the  Savior  gave  the  keys  to  Peter,  and  told  him  that 
whatsoever  he  bomid  or  loosed  on  earth  should  be  bound 
or  loosed  in  heaven. 

Indulgences  can  be  only  granted  to  those  who  have 
by  penance  secured  the  remission  of  eternal  punish- 
ment, and  they  can  be  granted  even  to  .such  only  for  a 
good  cau.se  or  motive.  Unless  the  cause  or  motive  is 
a  goud  one,  heaven  does  not  loose  what  the  bishop 
looses.  The  causes  or  motives  deemed  good  are  "  the 
doing  of  great  works  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  pub- 
lic benefit  of  the  Church,  such  as  the  i)ropagation  of 
the  Catholic  faith,  building  churches,  alms,"  &c.  And 
the  way  in  whif;h  the  bishop  secures  tlie  remission  of 
the  temporal  puni.shment  of  the  indulged  one — he  draws 
upon  the  satisfaction  of  Chri.'it  and  his  saints,  called 


188  K  I  U  W  A  N  '  S      LETTERS 

A  curiosity.  David.  The  autliority  ol'llic  (Muircli. 


"  the  treasure  of  the  Church,"  and  offers  the  draft  to 
Grod  as  an  equivalent  for  the  punishment  due  to  the 
individual  I  I  do  think  that  some  heated  controver- 
sialists have  distorted  this  doctrine  of  your  Church,  but 
you  will  not  say  that  this  is  a  distortion  of  it.  It  is 
taken,  almost  literally,  from  Challoner  and  Milner. 

The  illustration  of  Milner  of  the  working  of  the  thing 
is  a  curiosity  in  its  way.  It  is  drawn  from  2  Sam., 
12th  chapter.  David,  by  the  murder  of  Uriah,  and  by 
adultery  with  his  wife,  incurred  both  eternal  and  tem- 
poral punishment.  He  confessed  to  Nathan,  and  did 
penance,  and  eternal  punishment  was  remitted.  The 
temporal  yet  remained,  and  he  suffered  it  all.  And 
why  ?  There  was  no  priest  or  bishop  to  grant  him  in- 
dulgence !  I 

Such,  sir,  is  your  doctrine  of  indulgence.  Permit 
me  to  give  you  my  thoughts  in  reference  to  it. 

There  is  not  a  shadow  of  authority  for  it  in  the 
Scriptures.  The  Church  has  authority  to  receive  those 
she  deems  worthy  of  membership,  and  to  cast  out  of- 
fenders ;  and  when  offenders  cast  out  from  her  bosom 
have  given  due  evidence  of  repentance,  she  has  the 
power  of  again  receiving  them ;  she  is  bound  to  do  so. 
Upon  this  simple  scriptural  position  your  Church  has 
erected  the  sacrament  of  penance  and  the  doctrine  of 
indulgence  ! 

Nor  have  you  a  shadow  of  authority  for  prescribing 
a  meritorious  satisfaction  to  G-od  in  lieu  of  the  penalty 
annexed  to  his  law  and  pronounced  against  sin.  I 
have  already  examined  and  exploded  your  claims  as 
to  the  power  of  the  keys,  and  as  to  binding  and  loosing. 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  189 

A  supposition.  Temporal  punishment.  A  filthy  chamber. 

So  unreasonable — I  may  say  so  foolish  are  they,  that 
their  assertion  only  exposes  you  to  ridicule.  Let  us 
suppose  that  David  were  now  King  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  with  the  sins  of  the  matter  of  Uriah  fresh 
upon  him :  could  you  go  to  him  and  say,  "  May  it 
please  your  majesty,  I,  John  Hughes,  hy  the  power  of 
binding  and  loosing  transferred  to  me  by  Peter,  will 
grant  you  indulgence  from  the  temporal  punishment 
due  to  your  sins ;  and  that  child  born  to  you  by  the 
wife  of  Uriah  shall  live,  by  virtue  of  my  indulgence, 
if  you  only  build  for  me  a  splendid  cruciform  church, 
and  endow  it  with  regal  magnificence  ?"  Should  you 
do  this,  would  not  your  conduct  be  branded,  not  only 
as  revoltingly  arrogant,  but  as  blasphemous  ?  And  is 
not  this  the  way  that  many  of  your  churches  were 
built  and  endowed  ? 

But  you  now  lower  your  tone,  and  say  that  indulg- 
ences only  remit  the  temporal  punishment  inllictud  by 
the  Church.  IBut  how  does  this  mend  the  matter? 
By  your  power  of  binding  or  loosing,  you  can  send  a 
man  to  hell  or  to  heaven  ;  you  can  inflict  any  punish- 
ment you  see  fit ;  and  you  can  demand  of  the  penitent, 
for  indulgence,  any  "  good  works"  you  see  fit.  Here, 
sir,  is  the  key  which  unlocks  a  chamber  in  your  Church, 
fillfd  with  rottenness  and  putrefaction  more  find  and 
filthy  llirui  the  world  has  ever  seen.  Need  I  revcrl  in 
the  tniflic  in  indulgences  so  zealously  promoted  by  your 
poj)cs  in  jmst  days?  Need  I  point  you  to  Ihcir  wluiie- 
sale  manufacture  by  your  popes — 1(»  their  .selling  them 
by  wholesale  to  tribes  of  vagabond  monks,  who  hawk- 
ed them  all  over  Europe  at  prices  to  suit  purchasers  ? 


1 90  K 1 R  W  A  N ' S     LETTERS 

Driving  a  bargain.  The  monk.  All  ubusc.  Spiritual  shops. 

The  Pope  drove  as  good  a  bargain  as  he  could  with 
the  monks,  and  the  monks  with  the  people.  For  the 
indulgence  which  a  poor  peasant  could  purchase  for  a 
few  pennies,  a  prince  must  pay  pounds.  The  common 
sense  of  the  world  was  insulted  ;  the  yoke  of  Rome  be- 
came too  heavy  for  the  nations  longer  to  hear ;  a  poor 
monk  discovered  a  copy  of  the  Bible,  and  its  truths 
filled  his  mind  and  his  soul.  Strong  in  the  Lord,  he 
went  out  from  his  dark  cell  with  the  lamp  of  life  in 
his  hand  ;  the  Reformation  follows  ;  and  for  the  expo- 
sure of  her  frauds  and  wickedness,  your  Church  has 
sent  that  poor  monk  to  a  place  where  the  efficacy  of 
seven  sacraments — of  all  masses — of  all  indulgences, 
can  never  reach  him. 

But  you  will  say  all  this  was  the  abuse  of  the  thing. 
My  dear  sir,  your  doctrines  of  relics  and  indulgences 
have  no  use — they  are  all  abuse.  Guard  them  as  you 
may  in  your  catechisms  and  books,  practically  they  are 
all  abuse.  Millions  have  prayed  at  the  tombs  of  your 
saints  who  never  offered  an  intelligent  prayer  to  G-od 
through  his  Son ;  millions  have  worshiped  your  relics 
who  never  worshiped  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth ;  and 
millions  have  sought  deliverance  from  sin  by  your  pen- 
ances, and  extreme  unctions,  and  indulgences,  who 
never  sought  it  through  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  And 
at  this  hour,  many  of  your  churches  in  Rome  are  noth- 
ing but  splendid  spiritual  shops  for  the  sale  of  indul- 
gences. 

The  fraud  which  your  Church  has  practiced  on  the 
world  by  her  relics  and  indulgences  are  enormous. 
If  practiced  by  the  merchants  of  New  York  in  their 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  191 

Frauds.  Idolatry  and  license  to  sin.  Odor. 

commercial  transactions,  they  would  send  every  man 
of  them  to  state  prison.  For  frauds  amounting  to 
about  two  millions,  a  man  of  the  name  of  Schuyler  has 
been  banished  from  society,  and  has  fled  the  country. 
How  many  millions,  thmk  you,  by  their  pious  frauds, 
have  your  priests  raised  from  the  poorest  of  the  people 
of  New  York  during  your  episcopate  ?  Fraud  is  not 
the  less  fraud  because  committed  under  a  religious 
garb,  and  by  a  man  in  vestments  blazing  with  crosses  I 
By  your  doctrine  of  relics,  you  lead  the  people  into 
idolatry  on  the  one  hand ;  by  your  doctrine  of  indul- 
gence, you  give  them  a  license  to  commit  sin  on  the 
other  ;  at  least,  this  is  their  practical  effect.  It  is  said 
of  the  holy  Sturme,  the  disciple  of  St.  Winifred,  that  in 
passing  a  horde  of  vmconverted  Germans  as  they  were 
bathing  in  a  stream,  he  was  so  overpowered  by  the  in- 
tolerable stench  of  sin  that  arose  from  them  that  he 
nearly  fainted  away.  Similar  is  the  effect  of  the  odor 
of  your  relics  and  indulgences  upon  me.  Your  Church 
mu.st  abandon  them  utterly  before  I  can  return  to  her 
communion. 

With  respect,  yours,  Kirwan. 


192  Kill  WAN's     LETTERS 

Unmcaningiicss.  Above  reason.  Simplicity. 


LETTER   VI I. 

Unmeaningness  of  Romish  Doctrines  and  Ceremonies. — Baptism. — 
The  Mass. — Penance. — Extreme  Unction. — Holy  Water. — Prayers 
to  the  Saints. — Withholding  the  Scriptures. 

Reverend  and  dear  Sir, — I  ask  your  attention  in 
the  present  letter  to  the  consideration  of  another  ob- 
jection, which,  mountain-like,  opposes  my  return  to 
your  Church,  drawn  from  the  utter  unmeaning'ness 
of  your  ■peculiar  doctrines  and  ceremonies.  If  I  coin 
a  new  word  to  express  my  meaning,  surely  you  will 
forgive  me — you,  a  bishop  in  a  Church  which  has  coin- 
ed doctrines,  and  sacraments,  and  ceremonies  without 
meaninsr  and  without  end. 

AVhen  I  look  into  the  New  Testament,  every  thing 
there  is  plain  and  simple.  True,  there  are  some  doc- 
trines there  taught  which  are  above  my  entire  com- 
prehension, but  yet  they  are  plainly  taught.  Having 
settled  the  divine  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  I  never 
question  what  they  plainly  teach.  Its  most  mysteri- 
ous truths  are  not  opposed  to  my  reason ;  they  are  only 
above  it.  When  I  look  at  the  worship  and  ceremonies 
there  enjoined,  they  all  seem  to  me  perfectly  simple 
and  expressive ;  and  so  are  the  worship  and  ceremonies 
of  almost  all  the  Protestant  churches  with  which  I  am 
acquainted.  So  far  as  they  deviate  from  simplicity 
and  expressiveness  do  they  deviate  from  the  apostolical 
model.     But  when  I  turn  to  your  Church — the  Church 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  193 

Baptism.  Us  effects.  How  is  this  ? 


of  my  fathers — every  thing  pecuhar  to  it  wears  a  con- 
trary aspect,  and,  to  my  mind,  seems  utterly  unmean- 
ing, and  frequently  absurd.  Permit  me  to  illustrate 
what  I  mean ;  and  even  should  I  occupy  this  letter 
with  my  illustrations,  my  only  excuse  to  you  and  my 
readers  is  the  importance  of  the  subject. 

I  begin  with  your  sacrament  of  baptism.  This  we 
all  admit  to  be  a  sacrament ;  but  I  have  now  to  do 
with  the  power  and  significancy  which  you  give  it, 
and  the  ceremonies  you  connect  with  it. 

The  effects  of  baptism  when  duly  administered,  as 
stated  by  Challoner,  are  these :  It  washes  away  orig- 
inal sin — it  remits  all  actual  sin — it  infuses  the  habit 
of  divine  grace  into  the  soul — it  gives  a  right  and  title 
to  heaven — it  makes  us  children  and  members  of  the 
Church.  Now,  sir,  I  have  no  sense  by  which  I  can 
perceive  how  the  application  of  water  by  a  priest,  or  a 
minister,  or  a  laic,  or  a  midwife,  can  accomplish  all 
this,  while  testimony  to  the  contrary  addresses  itself 
to  all  my  senses.  Christ  died  for  the  sins  of  all  that 
believe  in  him ;  it  is  faith  in  Christ  that  secures  the 
wa.shing  away  of  original  and  actual  sin  ;  and  faith  is 
the  exerci.se  of  a  heart  renewed  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God  and 
a  title  to  heaven.  All  this  J  can  understand  ;  laii  how 
your  dipping  three  times  in  water  can  do  all  this,  I  see 
not.  What  the  Bible  attributes  to  iho  Holy  Spirit  and 
to  the  exercise  of  true  faith,  you  claim  for  the  sacra- 
ment of  baptism. 

If  ytjur  (loetrino  of  JKiptismnl  rogenr^ation  is  true, 
what  a  .singular  coniiiifiil.'iry  we  h;ivf  nf  if  In  ihr  lives 

l" 


194  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

Singular  comincniary.  Simply  absurd.  Ceremonicti. 

of  your  people  !  What  singular  manifestations  of  the 
habits  of  divine  grace  which  your  baptism  infuses  into 
the  soul,  you  see  daily  among  your  people  I  I  only 
wonder  that  the  facts  in  the  case  have  not  long  since 
exploded  your  doctrine,  and  led  you  back  to  the  sim- 
l^licity  of  the  sacrament  as  taught  in  the  Bible  !  The 
apostles  administered  baptism  to  those  who  confessed 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ ;  and  through  this  sacrament  we 
obtain  a  place  and  a  name  in  the  visible  Church.  This 
all  men  can  understand ;  but  how  you  or  any  mortal 
man,  by  the  application  of  water  in  any  or  all  ways, 
can  wash  away  the  original  and  actual  sins  of  the  sin- 
ner, infuse  into  his  soul  the  habits  of  grace,  and  give 
him  a  title  to  heaven,  I  can  not  comprehend.  If  your 
baptism  could  only  do  this,  it  would  wonderfully  mend 
the  habits  of  many  of  your  people,  and  save  some  of 
the  criminal  courts  of  New  York  a  world  of  trouble ! 
The  Sixth  Ward  of  the  city  of  your  residence  contains 
a  great  number  of  those  who  have  been  baptized  with 
your  baptism  ;  and  if  it  "  infuses  the  habits  of  grace 
into  the  soul,"  they  have  a  most  unfortunate  way  of 
displaying  them  I     Your  theory  is  simply  absurd. 

And  the  power  you  claim  for  it  is  no  more  unmean- 
ing than  the  ceremonies  you  connect  with  it.  This 
sacrament  ordinarily  must  bo  administered  in  churches 
with  fonts,  whose  water  must  be  blessed  "  on  the  vigils 
of  Easter  and  AVhitsunday."  There  must  bo  godfa- 
thers and  godmothers.  The  priest  blows  in  the  face 
of  the  subject  of  baptism  thrice,  to  drive  Satan  out  of 
him  I  Then  blessed  salt  is  put  in  his  mouth  !  Then 
exorcism  is  performed  to  drive  the  devil  out  of  him ! 


TO     BISHOP     HUUllES.  195 

What  means  it?  The  Mass.  Explained  by  Dr.  England. 

This  is  all  done  in  the  porch  of  the  church.  Then, 
when  the  devil  is  scared  away,  the  child  is  introduced 
into  the  church,  where  prayers  are  said.  Then  the 
priest  puts  his  spittle  on  his  ears  and  nose.  Then  he 
is  anointed  with  holy  oil,  "  blessed  on  Maunday  Thurs- 
day ;"  and  then  he  is  baptized.  Then  he  is  anointed 
on  the  top  of  the  head  with  holy  chrism  ;  then  a  white 
linen  cloth  is  placed  on  his  head ;  then  a  lighted  can- 
dle is  put  in  his  hand !  then  the  ceremony  is  ended, 
and  the  person  is  dismissed,  his  sins  all  washed  away, 
the  habits  of  grace  infused  into  his  soul,  and  his  title 
to  heaven  in  his  pocket ! 

Now,  sir,  excite  my  wits  as  I  may,  I  can  not  under- 
stand all  this.  It  is  addressed  to  my  ignorance.  Pray 
inform  us  what  wizard  devised  such  a  ceremony. 

The  whole  ceremony  of  your  Mass  is  yet  more  un- 
meaning to  me.  Often  as  I  have  witnessed  it,  I  never 
gleaned  one  intelligent  idea  from  it,  nor  does  one  out 
of  one  million  of  your  people.  I  have  just  read  through 
the  labored  explanation  of  it  by  Bishop  England,  and 
it  is  truly  painful  to  see  so  noble  a  mind  expending  its 
powers  in  the  vain  attempt  to  give  meaning  to  every 
thread  of  such  a  gossamer  web — to  give  sense  and  sig- 
nificance to  what  is  so  vittcrly  nonsensical. 

"  In  the  Mass,"  says  Pr.  England,  "  Christ  is  ihc 
victim  ;  he  is  prodiuid  hy  the  consecration,  which,  ])y 
the  power  of  God,  and  the  institiition  of  the  Redeem- 
er, and  the  act  of  the  priest,  place  the  ])n(Iy  and  blood 
of  Christ,  under  th<;  appearance  of  bread  and  wine, 
upon  Ihe  altar ;  then  Ihe  prifist  makes  an  oltlation  of 
this  viflim  tn  ihc  Rternnl  l-'afluT  (Hi  liclinlf  of  llic  poo- 


196  kirwan'ss   letters 

Do  you  understand  it  •  Hlasplieinous.  Pantoinitnc. 

plc,  and  the  victim  undergoes  a  destructive  change, 
showing  forth  the  death  of  the  Redeemer,  and  making 
commemoration  thereof  by  the  exhibition  of  the  appar- 
ent separation  of  the  body  from  the  blood  ;  the  former 
being  under  the  appearance  of  bread,  and  the  latter 
under  the  appearance  of  wine,  and  by  the  consumption 
of  both  by  the  priest."  This  is,  on  the  whole,  the 
clearest  account  of  the  Mass  that  I  have  ever  seen  from 
the  pen  of  a  priest,  and  yet  what  mind  can  under- 
stand it  ?  Sir,  do  you  understand  it  ?  Christ  produced 
from  some  bread  and  wine  by  a  priest ;  this  produced 
Christ  is  laid  upon  the  altar  by  the  priest ;  an  oblation 
of  this  produced  Christ  is  made  to  the  Eternal  Father 
by  the  priest;  the  produced  Christ  undergoes  a  de- 
structive change  in  the  act  of  oblation ;  this  oblation 
of  the  produced  Christ  is  offered  for  the  people ;  and 
then  this  produced,  offered  Christ,  and  after  he  has  un- 
dergone a  destructive  change,  is  eaten  by  the  priest ! 
Sir,  all  this  is  as  unmeaning  to  me  as  the  leaves  which 
the  fabled  sybil  scattered  on  the  winds  ;  and  this  un- 
meaning Mass,  a  greater  mass  of  absurdity  than  ever 
heathen  ingenuity  or  depravity  invented,  is  the  chief 
source  of  edification  to  nine  tenths  of  the  papal  world  ! 
If  it  were  merely  unmeaning,  without  being  blasphe- 
mous and  wicked,  I  could  extend  to  it  some  toleration. 
And  the  absurdity  of  the  whole  thing  is  increased  to 
intensity  by  the  fact  that  the  pantomime  is  performed 
in  Latin  !  Pray,  sir,  how  many  of  your  worshipers  at 
St.  Patrick's  understand  English,  not  to  say  Latin  ? 
Why  use  a  language  now  no  longer  spoken  by  any  na- 
tion or  people,  which  is  now  simply  a  medium  of  inter- 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  197 

Cool  insult.  Hatred  of  change.  No  difference. 

course  among  scholars  ?     The  answer  given  to  this 
question  by  Challoner  is  one  of  the  most  cool  insults 
that  I  have  ever  known  offered  to  the  common  sense 
of  the  world.     Here  it  is :  1.  Because  it  is  her  ancient 
language  .  .    .  and  the  Church,  which  hates  novelty, 
desires  to  celebrate  her  hturgy  in  the  same  language. 
2.  For  a  greater  uniformity  in  public  worship  ;  that  a 
papist,  wherever  he  wanders,  may  witness  the  cere- 
monies of  the  Ma.ss  in  the  same  language.    3.  To  avoid 
the  changes  to  which  all  vulgar  languages  are  exposed. 
He  also  tells  us  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  understand 
what  we  are  saying  if  our  hearts  are  only  sincere ! 
Sir,  I  see  not  how  men  who  offer  or  receive  such  state- 
ments as  reasons  can  have  the  faculty  of  understand- 
ing a  reason.    Because  the  ritual  of  the  Mass  was  first 
formed  in  Latin — because  Mass  was  first  said  in  Latin 
at  Rome  when  that  was  the  vulgar  tongue,  the  hatred 
of  your  Church  to  novelty  forbids  her  to  change  the 
language  of  her  ritual  when  there  is  not  a  congrega- 
tion on  earth  that  can  understand  it !     And  it  is  not 
necessary  to  understand  the  language  in  which  we  ad- 
dress ourselves  to  God,  if  we  only  intend  to  worship 
him  I     And  such  is  the  excuse  you  make  for  the  man 
who  may  bo  worshiping  a  false  relic  for  a  true  one. 
If  he  only  means  to  honor  the  true  relic,  it  makes  no 
difference  !     If  he  mistakes  the  thigh  of  Barabbas  for 
that  of  Barnabas,  or  the  finger  of  Pilate  for  that  of  Pe- 
ter, or  the  hair  of  Jezebel  for  that  of  Mary,  or  the  head 
of  Balaam's  ass  for  that  of  Paul,  it  is  all  the  same,  if 
Iio  only  means  to  worship  the  true  rclio  !  and  1  suppose 
the  difference,  sir,  is  very  little. 


198  K  I  U  W  A  N  '  S     li  E  T  T  E  R  S 


Penance.  Extreme  unction.  Can  you  solve  it  t 

These  things  may  be  very  clear  to  you,  and  to  your 
priests  and  people,  but  to  me  they  are  utterly  without 
meanmg,  save  a  meaning  that  insults  my  common 
sense. 

And  such  is  the  fact  as  to  your  doctrines  of  penance 
and  extreme  unction,  which  I  have  already  examined. 
I  am  a  sinner.  To  obtain  forgiveness,  you  tell  me  that 
I  m-ust  confess  to  you — that  I  must  perform  the  pen- 
ances you  enjoin — that  I  must  secure  absolution  from 
you,  and  that,  until  all  this  is  done,  I  can  not  procure 
forgiveness.  But  your  doctrine  of  penance  and  its  re- 
puted efficacy  are  as  difficult  for  me  to  understand  as 
they  are  contrary  to  the  Bible. 

And  so  as  to  your  extreme  unction.  I  am  in  a  dy- 
ing state.  The  sands  in  my  glass  are  almost  run. 
You  come  to  my  dying  bed  with  your  little  cup  of 
olive  oil,  blessed  on  Maunday  Thursday.  Dipping  your 
thumb  in  the  box,  you  cross  and  anoint  my  eyes,  my 
nose,  my  tongue,  my  ears,  my  hands,  my  feet,  and 
when  the  crossing  and  anointing  is  over,  I  am  prepared 
for  "  the  port  of  eternal  happiness."  Now,  sir,  after 
every  effort,  I  can  not  understand  how  olive  oil  pro- 
duces those  effects,  if  rubbed  on  with  both  your  thumbs 
and  with  all  your  fingers.  I  can  readily  see  how  the 
blood  of  Christ,  applied  to  my  soul  in  the  dying  hour 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  fits  it  for  its  departure ;  but  how 
olive  oil,  or  any  other  oil,  rubbed  on  by  your  thumb,  or 
poured  upon  me  in  a  deluge,  can  effect  this,  is  a  mys- 
tery utterly  beyond  my  power  of  solving.  Can  you 
solve  it  ? 

And  to  whichsoever  of  your  peculiar  doctrines  or 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  199 

At  St.  Patrick's.  Holy  water.  Dodging. 

ceremonies  I  turn,  I  find  the  same  unmeaningness  in 
them  all. 

I  go  into  your  church — St.  Patrick's.  I  go  with  the 
multitude  to  the  stone  basin  containing  the  holy  water, 
and,  dipping  my  fingers  into  it,  I  cross  myself  with  the 
water.  This  water  is  made  holy  by  being  exorcised 
by  the  priest,  mixed  with  salt,  and  then  prayed  over ; 
and  I  cro.ss  myself  with  it,  that  it  may  defend  me  from 
the  power  of  the  devil  I  Now,  sir,  all  this  I  can  not 
understand.  The  devil  is  cast  out  of  the  water,  then 
the  water  is  salted,  then  it  is  consecrated,  and  then  I 
am  required  to  sprinkle  myself  with  it  in  order  to  keep 
oft'  the  devil.  I  can  readily  see  how  salt  will  keep  the 
water  from  becoming  putrid,  but  how  you  get  Satan 
out  of  the  water,  and  how  the  water  can  keep  Satan 
away  from  me,  is  beyond  my  comprehension.  And 
where  do  you  get  this  rite  of  holy  water  ?  I  remem- 
ber, when  a  boy,  seeing  the  priest  on  Sunday  passing 
through  a  densely-crowded  chapel,  with  two  boys  car- 
rying a  tub  of  holy  water  before  him,  and  he  sprink- 
ling it  upon  the  people  with  something  which  I  then 
thought  was  a  cow's  tail ;  and  I  well  remember  how  I 
often  dodged  behind  some  Imrly  person,  lest  1  should 
get  a  little  too  much  of  it ;  and  if  that  water  drove  the 
devil  out  of  some  of  them,  I  would  like  to  know  how 
they  acted  when  he  was  in  them.  If  holy  water  would 
only  produce  the  effects  whicOi  you  attribute  to  it,  I 
vvoiild  wish  you  to  give  many  of  <mr  countrymen  a 
pretty  thorough  sprinkling. 

I  find  the  same  difficulty  in  your  doctrine  which 
teaches  me  to  pray  to  the  saints.     How  Paul  or  Peter 


200  Kill  WAN's     LETTERS 

Poor  Mary.  My  chart.  Requisitions. 

can  hear  me  in  New  York,  and  another  in  Cork,  pra}^- 
ing  to  them  at  the  same  time,  passes  my  comprehen- 
sion. I  am  sure  poor  Mary  must  have  her  hands  full 
if  she  attends  to  all  who  supplicate  her  favor.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  in  the  papal  world  ten  pray  to  her  where 
one  prays  to  G-od. 

Nor  can  I  comprehend  why  or  for  what  purpose  you 
withhold  from  me  the  free  use  of  the  Scriptures.  They 
are  a  revelation  from  G-od  to  man — not  to  priests  only, 
but  to  the  race.  They  are  the  chart  of  the  way  to 
life,  and  all  men  are  commanded  to  search  them.  Why 
not  permit— command  all  men  to  search  them  ?  The 
shijiping  merchant  furnishes  his  captains  with  charts 
of  all  the  seas  over  which  they  are  to  sail,  and  enjoins 
a  constant  use  of  them ;  and  you  take  from  me  the 
chart  which  Ciod  has  given  me  to  direct  me  across  the 
ocean  of  life,  and  to  a  safe  anchorage  beneath  the  shel- 
ter of  the  Rock  of  Ages.     AVliy  is  this  ? 

My  dear  sir,  G-od  has  given  me  a  mind  to  understand 
his  will  equally  as  he  has  given  you,  and  in  revealing 
his  will  to  me  he  has  consulted  the  intelligence  with 
which  he  has  endowed  me.  He  asks  of  me  an  intel- 
ligent service  and  worship.  He  requires  all  men  to 
worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  Your  Church  re- 
quires me  to  deny  the  testimony  of  my  senses — to  go 
contrary  to  the  decisions  of  my  reason — to  beUeve,  not 
only  without,  but  against  evidence — to  believe  in  doc- 
trines as  true  which  common  reason  pronounces  ab- 
surd, and  to  submit  to  ceremonies  which  would  seem 
solemn  were  they  not  so  ludicrous  and  farcical.  I  be- 
Ueve it  is  Thomas  Aquinas  who  proves  the  duty  of  in- 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  201 

Aquinas.  No  wish  lo  be  a  donkey. 

feriors  to  submit  to  superiors  in  the  Church  from  the 
very  pertinent  passage  in  Job,  "  The  oxen  were  plow- 
ing, and  the  asses  feeding  beside  them."  And  while  I 
have  no  objection  to  your  bishops  and  priests  consider- 
ing themselves  oxen,  I  prefer,  on  the  whole,  a  religion, 
to  beheve  and  practice  which  does  not  require  me  to 
be  turned  into  a  donkey. 

With  respect,  yours,  Kirwan. 

12 


202  K  1  K  W  A  N  '  S     1.  E  T  T  K  li  S 

Withilruwiil.  Regret.  SustniniiiK  lielusioii. 


LETTER   VIII. 

The  Destiny  of  the  Papacy. — Its  Growth. — Its  History  not  yet  writ- 
ten.— The  Reformation. — Reasons  for  the  Extinction  of  Popery  : 
1.  Incapable  of  Reformation  ;  2.  Its  Reformation  impossible;  3. 
Opposed  by  the  Intelligence  of  the  World  ;  4.  By  its  Piety  ;  5. 
The  Causes  which  gave  it  Origin  passing  away ;  6.  Its  Extinction 
ordained  ;  7.  How  it  is  to  be  done. 

My  dear  Sir, — In  my  last  letter  I  brought  to  a  close 
the  chief  objections  which  prevent  my  return  to  your 
Church.  As  they  bear,  at  least,  upon  my  own  mind, 
you  and  all  men  will  say  that  they  are  insurmounta- 
ble. If  I  have  misstated  any  of  your  doctrines — if  I 
have  magnified  any  of  their  absurdities,  I  have  done  it 
ignorantly ;  and  if  I  have  uttered  a  sentence  that  could 
have  been  avoided  in  the  discussion,  and  that  can  be 
interpreted  as  personally  offensive  or  disrespectful  to 
yourself,  I  withdraw  it.  I  feel  not  ashamed  of  you  as 
a  countryman  ;  I  respect  your  character,  and  the  only 
feeling  in  my  soul  in  reference  to  you  is  one  of  deep — ' 
I  might  almost  say,  agonizing  regret  that  you  should 
lend  your  talents,  character,  and  influence  to  the  sus- 
taining of  such  a  system  of  delusion  as  is  popery,  which 
I  deem  equally  at  war  with  the  Bible,  and  with  the 
common  sense  and  best  interests  of  men.  However 
much  or  little  value  you  place  on  this  avowal,  it  is 
made  in  sincerity.  In  the  present  letter,  which  will 
clo.se  those  addressed  to  you  personally,  T  will  ask  your 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  203 

Growth  of  popery.  Puttiii;;  out  lights.  All  not  told. 

attention  to  some  considerations  hearing  on  the  ulti- 
mate destiny  of  your  Church. 

The  gi-Qwth  of  your  Church  has  been  hke  that  of 
the  mustard-seed — small  in  its  beginning,  but  gradu- 
ally unfolding,  until  its  branches  overshadowed  the 
world.  It  took  centuries,  and  generations  of  men  en- 
dowed with  all  the  deceivableness  of  an  unrighteous 
policy,  to  perfect  its  despotic  unity.  Corruption  was 
introduced  so  gradually  as  to  create  no  general  alarm  ; 
and  the  truth  of  God  was  so  mixed  up  with  the  tradi- 
tions of  men  as  to  take  away  the  power  of  the  truth, 
and  as  to  rivet  upon  the  world  the  traditions  of  men  as 
the  commandments  of  God ;  and  the  whole  system  was 
so  adapted  to  the  tendencies  of  our  fallen  nature  as  to 
gain  easy  access  for  it  into  barbarous  and  semi-civil- 
ized states.  From  being  an  ally  of  the  state,  it  rose  to 
the  government  of  the  state.  It  put  out,  first,  the  lights 
of  civil,  and  then  of  religious  liberty.  By  it  kings 
reigned  and  princes  decreed  judgment ;  and  by  the 
silent  and  gradual  deposit  of  corruption  and  power, 
your  Church  rose,  a  vast  form,  and  complicated  of  su- 
perstition, error,  and  tyranny,  shutting  out  the  light  of 
heaven  from  the  mind,  and  the  hope  of  heaven  from  the 
soul,  and  filling  the  world  with  the  gloom  and  terror  of 
its  dc.<<potism.  Oh,  sir,  the  history  of  your  Church,  from 
the  seventh  to  the  .seventeenth  century,  is  yet  unwrit- 
ten. Much  has  been  revealed,  but  the  one  half  has 
not  born  told  us  ;  nor  will  man  ever  know,  until  the 
day  of  final  revealing,  a  tithe  of  the  miseries  and  woes 
which  it  has  inflicted  on  our  rare;.  When  the  pall  of 
darkncs.s  which  now  conceals  them   shall  bo  drawn 


204  Iv  1  K  W  A  N  '  S     LETTERS 

F(.-arl\il  witnesses.  The  Uclbrnisitidn.  Not  to  be  arreslod. 

aside,  and  when,  in  all  their  crimson  hues,  they  shall  be 
exposed  to  the  gaze  of  a  collected  universe — when  the 
martyrs  from  the  "  Alpine  mountains  cold,"  and  from 
the  vales  of  Piedmont,  and  from  the  dungeons  of  the 
Inquisitions — when  the  Huguenots  of  France,  and 
slaughtered  Protestants  of  the  isles  and  the  continents, 
shall  rise  up  and  testify  against  her,  where  can  popes, 
prelates,  and  priests  then  find  a  hiding-place  ?  The 
rocks  and  mountains,  disregarding  their  cries,  will  not 
fall  upon  them,  nor  hide  them  from  the  face  of  an  an- 
gry God. 

The  world  tore  the  burden  of  the  despotism  of  your 
Church  until  it  could  be  borne  no  longer.  The  Refor- 
mation ensued ;  and  because  God  was  in  it,  the  com- 
bined efforts  of  popes,  emperors,  kings,  and  prelates 
failed  to  arrest  it.  All  the  elements  of  superstition,  and 
of  depravity,  and  of  selfishness,  and  of  cupidity,  and  of 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  power,  were  moved  to  their  deep 
foundations,  and  were  combined  with  unsurpassed  skill 
to  prevent  it,  but  in  vain.  The  nations  broke  the 
heavy  yoke  which  your  Church  had  placed  upon  their 
necks,  and  indignantly  cast  it  away.  And  from  that 
day  until  this  the  conflict  has  continued  between  Prot- 
estantism and  popery,  between  the  law  of  Christian  lib- 
erty and  of  papal  thraldom,  between  the  principles  of 
an  open  Bible  and  the  free  access  of  the  soul  to  God 
through  a  Mediator,  and  of  a  closed  Bible  and  the  re- 
ligion of  sacraments,  and  ceremonies,  and  priestly  in- 
terferences, without  meaning,  measure,  or  end.  It 
must  be  confessed  that,  in  this  conflict,  your  Church 
has  retained  its  ground  with  great  art  and  skill,  and 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  205 

Whal  her  destiny.  Extinction.  Not  to  be  reformed. 

that,  after  three  hundred  years  of  hard  fighting,  it  yet 
is  in  the  field,  and  with  a  fearful  array.  But  what  is 
her  destiny  ?  Is  she  to  rise  again  to  her  former  power, 
and  to  tread  out  the  liberty  of  the  world,  and  to  send 
us  all  to  school  again  to  muttering  monks,  and  to  open 
hell  to  all  who  decline  her  authority,  and  to  admit  to 
heaven  only  those  whose  great  faith  or  greater  igno- 
rance receives  all  that  she  teaches  ?  Sir,  I  have  no  fear 
of  this.  I  am  most  firmly  persuaded  that  your  Church 
is  destined  to  total  extinction.  And  permit  me,  in  the 
briefest  manner,  to  state  to  you  a  few  of  the  reasons 
which  sustain  me  in  this  belief. 

1.  Your  Church  is  incapable  of  reformation.  What 
may  be  reformed  may  be  preserved  ;  but  the  diseased 
body  that  allows  no  purgatives  to  remove  its  fever,  and 
no  stimulants  to  quicken  its  decaying  organs,  must  die. 
And  your  Church  is  just  such  a  body.  Because  infal- 
lible, it  has  never  fallen  into  error  in  doctrine  or  in  prac- 
tice, so  that  what  it  once  believes  and  commands  is 
always  true  and  is  always  binding.  Infallibility  for- 
bids reformation.  Here,  then,  is  the  position  which  it 
holds  before  the  world — an  infallible  Church — its  sense 
and  nonsense  equally  true  and  important — and  because 
infalliblij,  incapable  of  reformation  I  And,  in  my  opin- 
ion, it  Ls  well  it  is  so.  This  very  position  will  hasten 
its  overthrow.  How  soon  were  the  waters  of  the  sea 
made  the  winding-sheet  of  the  Pharaoh  that,  amid  the 
wonders  which  were  wrought  around  him,  refused  to 
lessen  the  burdens  of  Jacob  and  to  let  Israel  go  !  Old 
Baxter  was  in  the  habit  of  saying,  "What  will  not 
bend  must  be  broken." 


206  K  I  K  ^V  A  N  '  «     L  li  T  T  E  R  S 

Rcronnatiou  preclutloil.  The  opposition. 

2.  Even  if  the  doctrine  of  your  Church  permitted 
reformation,  any  reformation  is  impossible  save  that 
which  ends  in  its  extinction.  I  refer,  of  course,  to  a 
reformation  of  your  system,  and  not  to  that  of  individ- 
uals. How  can  your  doctrine  as  to  the  Pope's  suprem- 
acy be  reformed  save  by  its  utter  abandonment  ?  How 
reform  your  transubstantiation — your  Purgatory — your 
penance — your  extreme  unction — your  praying  to  dead 
men  and  women — your  relic  worship  ?  No  reforma- 
tion of  these  things  is  possible.  How  can  they  be  re- 
formed ?  If  they  can  not  be,  they  must  be  abandoned ; 
and  if  abandoned,  where  is  your  Church  ?  Grone,  like 
the  fabric  of  a  vision,  which  leaves  not  a  wreck  behind. 
And  again  I  say  it  is  well  that  it  is  so ;  these  things 
will  hasten  its  overthrow. 

3.  The  intelligence  of  the  world  is  in  opposition  to 
your  Church.  The  mind  of  man,  wherever  enlighten- 
ed and  permitted  to  act  freely,  is  opposed  to  it.  The 
most  enlightened,  the  most  commercial  nations  are 
anti-papal.  The  literature  of  the  world  is  against  it. 
The  genius  of  history  is  revealing  its  past  wickedness : 
the  genius  of  romance  is  holding  it  up  to  ridicule  by 
its  magic  creations  ;  the  genius  of  poetry  is  rehearsing 
its  cnielties  in  undying  song ;  nor  do  I  now  remember 
a  living  apologist  for  popery,  out  of  the  ranks  of  your 
priesthood,  worth  naming,  save  Chateaubriand,  whose 
eloquent  work,  "  G-enie  du  Christianisme,"  is  much 
more  of  a  romance  than  a  serious  apology  for  your  sys- 
tem ;  and  all  this  while  the  historian,  the  poet,  the 
novelist,  the  essayist,  the  penny-a-liner,  the  grave  quar- 
terly, the  lighter  monthly,  the  laughing  weekly,  are  out 
in  opposition  to  it. 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  207 

Prayer  of  the  Cliurcli.  Causes  of  popery  are  passing  away. 

4.  The  prayers  and  the  piety  of  the  world  are  against 
it.  I  assert  this  as  a  rule  which  has  its  exceptions — 
exceptions  within  the  pale  of  your  own  Church,  where, 
I  beheve,  in  spite  of  your  system,  there  are  some  of 
whom  the  world  is  not  worthy.  But  from  tens  of 
thousands  of  hearts  in  every  land  upon  wliich  the  sun 
shines,  the  prayer  is  daily  ascending  that  popish  super- 
stition may  come  to  a  perpetual  end.  And  G-od  is  a 
prayer-hearing  Gfod. 

5.  The  causes  which  gave  rise  to  your  Church  are 
rapidly  passing  away.  Popery,  you  know,  for  the  most 
part,  rose  in  times  of  great  ignorance.  As  the  art  of 
printing  was  unkno\\Ti,  the  Bible  was  but  little  circu- 
lated. It  required  almost  a  lifetime  to  transcribe  it, 
and  a  largo  fortune  to  purchase  it.  Hence  your  priests 
could  teach  almost  any  thing  for  divine  truth,  because 
the  people  had  no  Bible  by  which  to  test  their  teach- 
ing ;  and  having  enormously  multiplied,  for  doctrines, 
the  commandments  of  men,  it  became  your  settled  pol- 
icy, as  far  as  possible,  to  suppress  the  free  use  of  the 
Bible.  This  is  all  over  with  you;  and  the  Bible  will 
be  soon  in  every  living  language  and  among  all  people. 
And  the  ignorance  of  those  ages  in  which  the  founda- 
tions of  your  Church  were  laid  is  passing  away.  The 
schoolmaster  is  going  into  all  the  earth ;  and,  with  an 
in.structcd  mind  and  an  open  Bible,  the  priest  will  not 
be  long  endured  as  a  substitute  for  the  preacher,  nor 
the  saying  of  mass  for  the  proclamation  of  the  glorious 
Gospel  of  salvation.  Despotic  governments,  too,  which 
lent  the  power  of  the  state  to  the  priest  to  assist  him 
in  riveting  the  chains  of  Ijondage  on  the  people,  are  be- 


208  kiravan's   letters 

The  millstones.  National  intercourse.  Every  thing  at  war. 

coming  more  free.  In  many  nations  they  have  pass- 
ed, in  many  more  they  are  passing  away.  The  old 
feudal  system  and  popery  formed  the  upper  and  the 
nether  millstone  in  the  mill  in  which  the  people  were 
ground  down  to  the  state  requisite  to  suit  your  pur- 
poses. One  of  these  stones — the  feudal  system — is 
broken.  It  will  require  all  your  wits  to  go  on  grinding 
with  the  other. 

In  addition  to  all  this,  intercourse  among  the  nations 
is  rapidly  increasing.  By  the  power  of  steam  the  most 
distant  people  are  made  neighbors,  and  by  the  appli- 
cation of  magnetism  the  thoughts  of  men  are  made  to 
travel  round  the  earth  with  a  velocity  far  surpassing 
that  of  the  sun.  That  stagnation  of  the  mind,  and  of 
the  mass,  which  is  the  true  element  of  popery,  as  of 
all  superstition,  is  broken  up ;  and  at  the  prospect  of 
a  steam-engine  whistling  through  Italy  on  a  railway, 
Rome  is  alarmed.  And  thus  the  causes  which  gave 
rise  to  your  Church,  and  whose  continuance  for  so 
many  ages  enabled  it  to  maintain  its  fearful  pre-em- 
inence, are  rapidly  passing  away.  It  would  seem  as 
if,  for  the  last  four  hundred  years,  every  thing  was 
operating  against  her.  The  sacking  of  Constantinople, 
the  discovery  of  the  art  of  printing,  and  of  the  mari- 
ner's compass,  and  of  this  new  world,  the  Reformation 
by  Luther,  the  firmness  and  the  weakness  of  princes, 
the  periods  of  war  and  peace,  the  passing  away  of  old 
and  the  rise  of  new  dynasties,  the  virtues  and  the  vices 
of  popes,  prelates,  and  priests,  their  learning  and  their 
ignorance,  bloody  and  bloodless  revolutions,  the  prag- 
matic sanction  of  Charles  VII.,  the  revocation  of  the 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  209 

Ordination  of  God.  Prophecy.  The  mighty  fallen. 

Edict  of  Nantz  by  Louis  XIY.,  the  irruptions  of  infi- 
delity, and  the  revivals  of  true  religion,  all,  all  have 
been  directed  by  the  hand  of  G-od  so  as  to  weaken  the 
foundations,  and  as  to  hasten  the  desired  period  of  her 
final  fall. 

6.  And  more  than  all  this,  it  is  my  strong  convic- 
tion that  G-od  has  ordained  the  total  extinction  of  your 
Church.  I  will  not  detain  you,  sir,  nor  my  readers, 
with  any  dissertations  upon  the  prophecies  bearing  on 
this  point ;  this  would  be  aside  from  my  object.  John, 
when  rapt  in  vision  in  Patmos,  informs  us  that  Bab- 
ylon "  shall  be  utterly  burned  with  fire,"  and  calls  upon 
God's  people  to  "  come  out  of  her,"  that  they  might 
not  be  partakers  of  her  sins,  nor  receive  of  her  plagues. 
And  Paul  tells  us  that  the  Lord  shall  consume  "  that 
wicked"  with  the  spirit  of  his  mouth,  and  destroy  him 
with  the  brightness  of  his  rising.  And  by  "  Babylon," 
and  "  that  wicked,"  I  believe  Paul  and  John  meant  the 
papal  Church.  It  has  already  lost  its  civil  power. 
Once  she  could  dethrone  kings,  and  absolve  subjects 
from  their  allegiance :  now,  in  a  civil  point  of  view, 
there  is  no  weaker  power  on  earth.  Metternich  can 
send  his  Austrian  troops  into  the  States  of  the  Church 
without  fearing  the  least  injury  from  the  successor  of 
Gregory  the  Great !  How  is  the  mighty  fallen ! 
Ronge,  in  G-crmany,  excited  to  opposition  by  the  im- 
positions of  the  "  Holy  Coat  of  Treves,"  has  led  out  one 
hundred  thousand  from  the  yoke  of  your  Church,  and 
all  that  his  hohness  can  do  is  to  bear  it.  Even  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  the  rcsolnto  Germans  arc  flocking 
out  from  the  care  of  Holy  Mother,  and  all  that  you  can 


210  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     LETTERS 

The  sliccp  nisluniij  oiil.  IIow  to  bo  done  ?  I'iihi  i)roviil(!m'fs. 

do  i«  to  flourish  your  crook,  your  keys,  and  your  cro- 
sier around  the  altar  of  St.  Patrick's,  without  the  least 
power  to  stop  one  of  the  wandering  sheep ;  and  the 
more  you  strive  to  stop,  the  more  determined  are  they 
to  leave  your  fold.  The  temporal  power  of  your  Church 
is  gone ;  the  spiritual  is  fast  going  after  it ;  and  the 
time  will  soon  be  here  when  the  pen  of  the  historian 
will  write.  The  CnuRcii  of  Rome  was,  but  is  not. 

How  this  is  to  be  done  is  a  question  of  some  im- 
portance, and  upon  which  I  have  my  own  opinions. 
A  careful  looking  at  past  providences  may  cast  some 
light  upon  the  future,  and  inspire  hope  or  fear,  accord- 
ing to  the  relation  we  sustain  to  God  and  his  Church. 
You  know,  sir,  the  way  in  which  G-od  treated  Pharaoh 
and  the  Canaanites,  and  how  he  blotted  out  the  nations 
that  opposed  the  progress  of  his  people.  You  know  the 
way  and  manner  in  which  he  broke  up  the  Jewish 
Church  and  state  for  their  opposition  to  Christ  and  his 
Church.  You  know  how  the  Reformation  progressed, 
from  small  beginnings,  until  it  opened  a  new  epoch  in 
the  world's  history  ;  from  what  was  considered  a  little 
ecclesiastical  gladiatorship,  until  kingdoms  were  shak- 
en ;  until  thrones,  cemented  by  ages,  were  convulsed, 
and  tottered  to  their  base  ;  until  hostile  armies  met  in 
deadly  combat,  and  fattened  the  earth  with  the  blood 
of  the  papist  and  the  Protestant.  God  has  the  control 
of  all  agencies  to  accomplish  his  will.  Much  will  be 
done  for  the  extinction  of  your  Church  by  education ; 
much  by  the  general  influence  of  learning ;  much,  very 
much  by  the  circulation  of  the  Bible ;  much  more  by 
the  simple  and  fervent  preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  the 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  211 

No  reasoning  froin  the  past  to  the  future.  Superstitions  die  out. 

masses,  as  did  Luther ;  and  much  by  the  direct  agen- 
cy of  Him  in  whose  sight  the  nations  are  as  a  drop  in 
the  bucket,  and  who  will  overturn  and  overturn  until 
He  shall  come  whose  right  it  is  to  reign. 

These,  reverend  sir,  are,  in  brief,  my  reasons  for  be- 
lieving that  your  Church  is  destined  to  utter  extinc- 
tion. No  reasons  can  be  drawn  for  its  future  contin- 
uance from  its  continuance  until  now.  If  your  people 
had  not  been  papists,  they  might  have  been  pagans  or 
infidels.  The  Canaanites  remained  a  long  time  in  the 
land  to  perplex  the  Jews.  Paganism  continued  for 
asres  in  the  Roman  world  after  its  conversion  to  Chris- 
tianity ;  yet  both  became  extinct,  save  as  paganism  has 
been  perpetuated  by  your  people.  Nor  can  any  argu- 
ment be  drawn  from  the  occasional  conversions  to  your 
communion  which  are  now  occurring.  You  know  that 
in  ages  past  some  Christian  ministers  relapsed  into 
idolatry ;  and  that,  during  the  French  Revolution,  some 
of  your  bishops,  and  many  of  your  priests,  went  over  to 
infidelity.  You  must  lay  no  flattering  unction  to  your 
soul  from  arguments  like  these.  Your  Church  is  op- 
posed to  the  truth  of  God,  to  the  people  of  God,  to  the 
will  of  God.  The  shed  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  crying 
to  heaven  against  it.  Its  extinction  is  certain,  and 
may  God  hasten  it  in  his  own  time  and  way. 

With  the  most  sincere  prayers  for  your  spiritual  and 
eternal  welfare,  I  remain,  with  respect,  your  fellow- 
countryman  and  fclluw-siiiuf.'r, 

Kir  WAN. 


212  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

Appeal  to  llie  people.  Ilonesl  but  deluded.  Degraded. 


LETTER   IX. 

To  all,  and  especially  to  Ameriaan,  Roman  Catholics : 

My  dear  Friends, — Having  addressed  a  series  of 
letters  to  one  of  your  most  celebrated  bishops  in  this 
country,  the  Right  Reverend  John  Hughes,  of  New 
York,  candidly  stating  the  reasons  which  induced  nie 
to  abandon  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  which 
prevent  my  return  to  it,  I  desire,  before  I  lay  aside  my 
pen,  perhaps  never  to  be  resumed  on  this  subject,  to 
address  myself  to  you.  And  I  turn  from  the  bishop  to 
you  for  various  reasons,  some  of  which  I  desire,  in  the 
briefest  manner,  to  state. 

1.  While  entirely  honest,  I  believe  you  to  be  a  peo- 
ple deluded  by  your  priests.  They  have  taken  from 
you  the  Bible  ;  they  forbid  you  to  reason  on  the  subject 
of  religion ;  they  have  filled  your  minds  with  preju- 
dices against  all  who  resist  or  question  their  authority  ; 
they  have  imposed  upon  you  for  doctrines  the  com- 
mandments of  men ;  and  they  have  impressed  upon 
you  the  belief  that  with  them  is  the  power  to  admit  or 
to  exclude  you  from  heaven.  In  stating  these  things,  I 
say  what  I  do  know,  and  what  you  know.  With  me 
it  is  no  theory,  for  I  have  felt  it  all. 

2.  I  believe  you  to  be  a  people  impoverished  and 
degraded  by  your  priests.  The  reasons  for  my  opinion 
on  this  subject  are  stated  in  the  preceding  letters.  Ig- 
norance being  the  parent  of  papal  devotion,  the  priests 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  213 

Popery  sinks  the  man.  Prelates  no  reformers.  Jewish  high-priests. 

have  shut  out  from  you  the  light  of  knowledge.  Ig- 
norance "begets  vice,  and  vice  is  the  parent  of  poverty  ; 
or,  if  ignorance  begets  not  vice,  it  is  the  rank  soil  in 
which  superstition  attains  its  most  magnificent  growth ; 
and  wliich  most  degrades  a  people,  vice  or  superstition, 
it  is  not  worth  the  while  to  inquire.  I  verily  believe 
it  impossible  to  be  a  true  papist  without  sinking  the 
man. 

3.  I  believe  that  the  papal  world  need  look  for  no  re- 
dress of  grievances,  for  no  true  reformation,  from  its 
prelates  or  priests.  The  history  of  the  world,  and  the 
history  of  the  Church,  and  the  principles  of  human  na- 
ture, forbid  us  to  entertain  the  idea.  How  few  and  far 
between  the  in.stances  in  which  despotic  kings,  or  rul- 
ers, of  their  own  accord,  retrenched  their  expenditures 
to  relieve  the  burdens  of  their  subjects,  or  yielded  their 
usurped  rights  to  increase  the  liherty  of  their  people  I 
and  what  of  civil  liberty  the  nations  possess  has  cost 
the  people  ages  of  contest  with  tyrants,  and  rivers  of 
blood ! 

And  when  have  high  ecclesiastics  ever  led  the  way 
in  salutary  reformation  ?  Not  at  the  advent  of  Jesus 
Christ.  It  was  the  high-priest  that  sat  in  Moses'  seat, 
and  his  subordinates  that  nailed  t(j  the  cross  the  Lord 
of  glory.  It  was  the  commission  of  the  liigh-pricst  to 
persecute  the  dissenters  at  Damascus  from  the  order 
established  at  .Tcrusalem  that  Savil  of  Tarsus  carried 
in  his  pofket  when  he  was  arrcstfd  by  Heaven.  The 
Reformers  of  the  sixteenth  century,  whom  your  priests 
delight  to  disbonnr,  but  yet  wbo  have  given  civil  and 
religious  liberty  to  the  world,  were  hunted,  as  by  blood- 


214  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     L  E  T  r  E  11  S 


The  iKioplo  the  rol'onners.  Abandon  it.  Drcak  your  chains. 

hounds,  by  the  high  ecclesiastics  of  their  day.  Every 
reUgious  reform  of  permanent  utiUty,  and  in  every 
land  upon  which  the  sun  shines,  has  been  in  conse- 
quence of  the  united  action  of  the  people.  There  oc- 
curs not  to  me  now  an  instance  to  the  contrary. 

It  is  not  in  human  nature  to  surrender  power  once 
possessed,  nor  to  give  up  a  gainful  traffic,  nor,  for  the 
sake  of  benefiting  or  enriching  the  mass,  to  yield  up 
privileges.  Grace  leads  to  many  sacrifices  to  do  good 
to  men,  but  nature  holds  on  to  the  privileges  of  order, 
station,  caste,  however  they  may  bear  upon  the  people ; 
and  if  ever  the  people  are  freed  from  them,  it  must  be 
by  their  own  acts.  Roman  Catholics !  you  have  noth- 
ing to  expect  from  your  priests  but  the  perpetuation  of 
their  bad  dominion  over  your  mind  and  conscience,  and 
their  vigilant  and  united  efforts  to  crush  every  man 
and  every  influence  that  would  weaken  it.  The  prin- 
ciples of  your  Church  forbid  its  reformation — a  true 
reformation  would  be  the  end  of  it — there  is  no  alter- 
native for  you  but  to  abandon  it. 

These  are  the  reasons,  Roman  Catholics,  why  I  turn 
to  you,  and  why  I  would  implore  you,  by  all  that  is  to 
be  desired  in  a  mind  free  to  think,  in  a  soul  free  to  love 
and  to  act — free  in  its  access  to  Grod,  without  priestly 
taxes  and  interferences  ;  by  all  that  is  to  be  desired  in 
the  social  and  religious  elevation  of  your  children,  and 
in  the  moral  regeneration  of  your  race,  to  rise,  and  to 
fling  from  around  you  the  chains  forged  in  the  Dark 
Ages,  and  with  which  priests  would  bind  you  to  their 
footstools  in  this  age  of  light. 

You   must   remember  that  your  position  in  these 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  215 

The  priest's  whip.  Altered  position.  Feelings  of  Protestants. 

United  States  is  very  different  from  what  is  that  of 
those  yet  living  in  the  papal  countries  of  Europe. 
Here  you  are  free  to  think  and  to  act  for  yourselves. 
In  Ireland  you  might  be  afraid  of  the  priest's  whip,  or 
of  his  cursing  you  from  the  altar.  I  have  seen  myself 
a  priest  whip  a  man  in  the  street,  and  I  have  heard 
the  same  priest  curse  the  same  man  from  the  altar. 
But  here  his  whip  has  no  terror,  and  his  curses  arc 
harmless.  Woe  to  the  priest  who  uses  his  whip  for  ar- 
guments in  America ! 

And  then,  as  to  those  of  you  from  Ireland,  you  are 
in  a  very  different  position  as  to  the  Protestant  com- 
munity from  what  you  were  at  home,  Protestants 
here  arc  your  friends.  You  are  not  taxed  to  support  a 
religion  you  hate.  Your  cow  or  your  pig  are  not  driv- 
en from  your  door  to  pay  your  tithes.  There  is  noth- 
ing here  to  chafe  your  mind,  or  to  irritate  your  feelings, 
or  to  give  cause  to  your  priests  for  fiery  appeals  to  your 
passions.  Whatever  may  be  the  feelings  of  wicked 
men  toward  you,  there  is  not  a  pious  Protestant  in  the 
land  that  would  not  do  you  good,  and  that  would  not 
interpose  to  protect  you  from  wrong  ;  so  that  the  hos- 
tile feelings  toward  Protestants,  which  had  an  excuse 
ill  Ireland,  have  no  excuse  here.  If  you  wish  to  tiiiuk 
fur  yourselves,  there  arc  thousands  to  defend  you  ;  inid 
if,  on  examination,  you  think  as  I  do  alxnit  pojiery, 
and  (juit  the  Church,  you  have  nothing  to  fuir  from 
priestly  anathemas  hurled  at  you,  or  after  you,  from 
th(!  altar,  nf)r  from  an  ignnrnnl  ralfbic  that  would  per- 
secute you  as  an  apostate  TIm'  laws  and  feelings  of 
the  f^ountrv  are  around  V'J<i  hk"  walls  of  adamant. 


216  K  I  U  \V  A  N  ■  S      I,  K  T  T  li  R  S 

An  old  device.  Prietsts  of  Brahma.  Calmucks. 

There  is  one  point,  my  friends,  to  which  I  would  di- 
rect your  special  attention.  From  your  cradle  you 
have  been  taught  to  regard  your  priests  as  possessing 
peculiar  spiritual  powers,  which  you  resist  at  your  per- 
il ;  and,  in  every  w^ay  and  form,  they  seek  to  impress 
you  with  the  belief  that  they  possess  such  powers,  and 
that  their  communication  with  heaven  is  beyond  that 
of  ordinary  mortals.  Now  this  is  an  old  device,  and 
one  that  is  practiced  very  widely  for  the  purpose  of 
awing  the  common  and  vulgar  mind.  Thus  did  the 
ancient  priests  of  Egypt,  who  taught  the  people  to  wor- 
ship the  sun,  the  cow,  the  cat,  the  snake.  Thus  do  the 
priests  of  Brahma  at  the  present  day.  Some  of  them, 
by  their  pretended  intercourse  with  Heaven,  have  be- 
come so  holy  that  the  people  consider  the  water  in 
which  they  wash  their  feet  holy,  and  seek  to  be  sprin- 
kled with  it  with  intense  earnestness.  The  Calmucks 
believe  in  a  priesthood,  all  of  which  is  united  in  Lama, 
who  is  absorbed  in  deity.  The  old  Romans  had  their 
priests  and  their  oracles  that  were  regarded  as  know- 
ing and  declaring  the  mind  of  the  gods.  Their  power 
over  the  people  was  immense.  And  when  pagan  Rome 
became  papal,  it  was  a  point  greatly  desired  to  retain 
the  ])ower  of  the  pagan  priest  over  the  people.  It  was 
attained,  and  it  has  been  retained ;  and  the  power 
claimed  by  your  priests  for  the  better  subjecting  you 
to  their  yoke  is  the  power  claimed  by  all  the  priests  of 
heathenism  and  Mohammedanism,  and  for  the  very 
same  purpose.  It  is  the  claim  of  fanatics  and  impos- 
tors in  all  climes  and  among  all  people ;  and  whether 
set  up  on  the  banks  of  the  G-anges  or  of  the  Tiber ;  on 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES,  217 

Priests  no  power.  Gospel  ministry.  One  object. 

the  shores  of  the  Bosphorus,  or  on  the  banks  of  the 
Hudson,  its  object  is  to  exalt  the  priest  that  he  may 
govern  the  people.  Your  priests  have  no  more  power 
with  God  than  any  good  man  in  the  land ;  nor  as 
much,  unless  tliey  are  equally  pious.  If  not  pious  and 
sincere,  they  are  simply  impostors,  who  make  a  living 
by  their  traliic  in  your  souls.  And  such  I  believe  most 
of  them  to  be. 

Once  secure  a  just  and  scriptural  view  of  the  char- 
acter of  a  true  minister  of  Christ,  and  of  the  great  end 
of  a  Gospel  ministry,  and  the  whole  framework  of  pop- 
ery vanishes.  The  end  of  the  Gospel  ministry  is  to 
hold  up  a  crucified  Christ  as  God's  great  remedy  for 
the  sins,  and  guilt,  and  woes  of  our  race,  and  so  to  ex- 
pound the  moral  state  of  the  sinner  and  the  adapted- 
ness  of  the  work  of  Christ  to  that  state  as  to  lead  him 
to  see  that  his  only  hope  of  life  is  in  the  cross,  and  then 
to  beseech  him,  in  Christ's  stead,  to  be  reconciled  to 
God.  This  being  the  end  of  the  ministry,  a  true  min- 
ister is  one  who,  with  the  love  of  G  od  and  the  salvation 
of  men  filling  his  soul,  goes  out  into  all  the  ways  which 
Providence  opens  before  him,  preaching  every  where, 
as  did  Peter  and  Paul,  "  repentance  toward  God,  and 
faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Ho  has  only  one  ob- 
ject— to  lead  men  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  He 
carries  no  wafers  to  convert  into  Christs  ;  he  makes  no 
pretensions  to  the  power  of  regenerating  ."^ouls  by  bap- 
tizing them  ;  he  calls  not  upon  men  to  confess  to  him, 
but  to  God  ;  he  has  no  unmeaning  masses  to  mutter  ; 
no  relics  to  sell ;  no  unmeaning  rites  to  enjoin  ;  no  ol- 
ive oil,  nor  holy  salf,  nor  holy  water  <o  drive  away  de- 

K 


218  K  1  R  W  A  N  '  S     L  K  T  1'  E  H  S 

True  ministers  of  Clirist.  The  Oliurch.  A  member  of  it. 

mons.  He  goes  out,  wearing  no  sacerdotal  garments 
to  astonish  the  vulgar,  with  an  open  Bible  to  expound 
it,  praying  that  the  Holy  Ghost  may  so  apply  its  truths 
to  the  hearts  of  his  hearers  that  they  may  be  created 
anew  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works.  To  those  who 
believe  he  administers  the  rite  of  baptism ;  and,  as 
Grod  gives  him  opportunity,  he  administers  the  Lord's 
Supper  to  the  faithful,  for  the  purpose  of  commemora- 
ting the  death  of  Christ  until  he  comes  the  second 
time,  without  sin,  unto  salvation.  Such  were  the  min- 
isters of  Christ  before  the  rise  of  popery,  and  such  only 
are  the  true  ministers  of  Christ  now.  If  so,  will  you 
bear  the  impositions  of  your  priests  an  hour  longer  ? 

There  is  one  other  point  to  which  I  would  direct 
your  special  attention,  because  it  is  one  upon  which 
you  have  been  greatly  deceived :  I  mean  the  Church. 
Every  effort  has  been  put  forth  by  your  priests  to  mys- 
tify this  topic,  and  to  deceive  you  in  reference  to  it. 
All  who  truly  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  practice  the 
precepts  of  his  word,  are  reconciled  to  Grod.  They  are 
adopted  into  the  family  of  God — they  are  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  the  Lord  Almighty.  A  connection  of  such 
with  any  branch  of  the  visible  Church  does  not  inter» 
fere  with  their  connection  with  the  family  of  God.  No 
good  man  is  lost,  and  no  bad  man  is  saved,  because  of 
their  connection  with  any  church.  As  a  man  may  be 
a  true  papist  and  be  a  Jesuit,  or  a  Jansenist,  or  a  monk 
of  La  Trappe,  or  a  shorn  friar,  so  he  may  be  a  true 
Christian,  and  a  member  both  of  the  visible  and  invisi- 
ble Church,  and  be  a  Protestant  or  a  papist,  and  a 
member  of  any  of  the  sects  into  which  they  are  both 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  219 

The  last  branch.  No  party  interest.  Not  so  Bishop  Hughes. 

divided,  which  hold  to  the  true  atonement  of  Jesus 
Christ.  But  you  will  ask,  Have  you  no  preference 
for  one  branch  of  the  Church  above  another  ?  I  have. 
You  ask  again,  What  branch  is  it?  That  in  which 
the  most  truth  and  the  least  error,  the  most  simplicity 
and  the  least  pompousness,  exist.  Of  course,  the  very 
last  branch  I  would  select  would  be  the  papal ;  and  in 
the  Protestant  Church,  the  very  last  branch  I  would  se- 
lect is  that  which  is  most  like  the  papal.  The  true 
unity  of  the  Church  is  unity  in  the  truth,  and  union 
to  Christ. 

Right  views  of  the  ministry  of  Christ,  and  of  the 
Church  of  Christ,  in  one  hour  blow  the  whole  fabric  of 
))opcry  into  the  air. 

In  this  appeal  to  you,  Roman  Catholics,  I  am  no  in- 
terested party.  It  would  not  be  a  cent  in  my  pocket 
if  every  man  of  you  were  to  abandon  the  Pope  to-mor- 
row, nor  will  it  be  a  cent  out  of  it  if  every  man  of 
you  continue  to  believe  that  your  priests  can  turn  a 
wafer  into  Christ,  and  regenerate  you  by  baptism, 
and  absolve  you  from  your  sins,  and  get  you  admis- 
sion to  heaven  by  rubbing  you  with  olive  oil  when  dy- 
ing. Can  Bi.>;hop  Hughes  or  your  priests  say  this? 
Why,  then,  you  ask,  this  solicitude  about  us  ?  On  these 
accounts  :  I  know  you  to  be  deceived,  and  I  desire  you 
to  bo  undeceived.  1  know  that  you  are  led  to  place 
dependence  on  rites  and  ceremonies  for  a  preparation 
for  the  life  to  come,  which  give  no  such  prcjiaration. 
I  know  that  you  are  robbfd  of  your  money  for  services 
that  only  tend  to  degrade:  you,  that  you  are  deprived  of 
the  flearcst  rights  of  man — an  open  Bihlf,  and  free  ac- 


220  K  1  II  W  A  N  '  S     L  E  T  T  E  R  S 

FcUereU  by  tlic  priest.  Degrading  homage.  Heart  feeling. 

cess  to  God  for  yourselves,  without  any  saintly  or  priest- 
ly attorneys  to  plead  for  you.  I  see  you  hampered  and 
fettered  on  every  hand.  By  telling  the  priest  every 
thing  you  do,  you  put  your  peace  and  liberty  into  his 
hands.  You  can  not  read  the  Bible  without  his  license, 
and  be  a  good  Catholic.  You  can  not  retain  your 
standing,  and  read  any  book  which  he  prohibits,  or  fail 
in  any  duty  which  he  enjoins.  You  can  not  bow  your 
knee  before  Grod  with  a  Protestant  around  his  family 
altar  without  the  terror  of  a  severe  penance  when  you 
next  go  to  confession.  I  see  you,  freemen  in  a  land  of 
freedom,  and  yet  the  veriest  slaves  that  tread  the  soil, 
because  your  minds  and  souls  are  in  fetters.  I  see  you, 
a  noble  people,  yielding  a  degrading  homage  to  men 
that  deceive  you,  and  sustaining,  even  in  your  poverty, 
with  a  princely  liberality,  institutions  that  degrade 
you.  x\nd  I  desire,  with  an  irrepressible  desire,  to  see 
you  the  subjects  of  the  perfect  law  of  liberty  with  which 
Christ  makes  his  people  free.  These,  my  friends,  are 
the  reasons  of  my  solicitude  about  you. 

However  I  feel  toward  the  system  of  popery,  or  to- 
ward the  priests  of  the  system,  there  is  but  one  feeling 
and  one  desire  in  my  heart  toward  you :  that  feeling 
is  one  of  affection  and  interest,  and  that  desire  is,  that 
you  may  be  emancipated  from  a  system  of  superstition 
and  spiritual  despotism  as  degrading  and  grinding  as 
any  that  G-od  has  ever  permitted  to  exist 

With  respect,  yours,  Kirwan. 


TO     BISHOP     ULGHES.  221 

Hindoo  devotee.  His  appearance.  Ilis  reply. 


LETTER    X. 

Conclusion. — The  Indian  Devotee. — Faith  in  Christ  saves. — The  dy- 
ing Thief.— Peter  at  the  Feast  of  Pentecost.— The  Plan  of  Salva- 
tion.— The  Gospel  and  Papal  Way  of  Salvation  contrasted. — A  Call 
upon  Irish  Roman  Catholics. 

I  STILL  address  myself  to  American  Roman  Catho- 
lics. But  a  few  years  since,  a  Christian  minister  in 
India,  in  the  pursuit  of  the  objects  of  his  holy  mission, 
met  with  a  Hindoo  devotee.  A  noonday  sun  was 
pouring  its  burning  rays  from  a  burning  sky  upon  the 
burning  sands  on  which  the  meeting  took  place.  From 
its  heat  the  devotee  had  no  protection  save  the  piece 
of  cloth  which  hung  around  his  loins.  He  wore  a  pair 
of  sandals  pierced  with  iron  nails,  which  at  every  step 
penetrated  the  muscles  and  nerves  which  are  so  won- 
derfully collected  and  interwoven  in  the  soles  of  the 
feet.  His  sandals  were  filled  with  his  blood,  which 
marked  his  every  footstep.  He  was  an  object  fright- 
ful to  behold — his  body  blistered  by  the  sun  ;  his  hair, 
clotted  with  filth,  hanging  around  his  head ;  his  feet, 
swollen,  bleeding,  and  painful,  almost  refusing  to  move. 
The  missionary  asked  him  why  he  wore  those  sandals, 
and  why  he  subjected  himself  to  such  intense  suflering. 
He  replied  that  ho  had  committed  great  sins,  which 
were  greatly  oflTensivc  to  the  gods,  and  that,  in  order 
to  secure  the  forgiveness  of  those  sins,  he  wore  these 
sandals,  and  cheerfully  submittc^l  to  nil  liis  sufferings. 


222  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

The  more  cxcellfiil  way.  I'rcacliing.  Us  cfTccts. 

Filled  with  compassion  for  the  deluded  man,  the 
minister  of  Grod  told  him  that  lie  could  show  him  a 
way  in  which  he  could  secure  the  forgiveness  of  his 
great  sins  without  those  sandals,  and  without  subject- 
ing himself  to  such  terrible  sufferings.  "  Is  there  such 
a  way,  and,  if  so,  what  is  it  ?"  exclaimed  the  devotee, 
with  the  most  intense  interest.  "  There  is  such  a 
way,"  replied  the  missionary ;  and,  taking  his  Bible, 
he  read  to  him  and  expounded  the  following  passage : 
"  For  G-od  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only -be- 
gotten Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." — John,  iii.,  16.  He 
told  the  poor  deluded  man  of  the  sins  of  men  ;  of  the 
love  of  God  ia  giving  his  Son  to  die  for  the  sins  of  those 
who  should  believe  on  him ;  of  the  birth,  and  suffer- 
ings, and  death  of  Jesus  Christ;  and  he  especially 
dwelt  upon  this  one  great,  glorious,  and  scriptural  idea, 
that  he  that  believes  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  shall  be 
saved.  The  devotee  heard  with  amazement.  He  be- 
lieved. He  rejected  the  false  religion  of  his  fathers, 
though  sanctioned  by  a  thousand  ages.  He  renounced 
subjection  to  his  priests  and  their  traditions.  He  flung 
from  him  his  nailed  and  bloody  sandals,  by  walking  in 
which  he  supposed  he  was  saving  his  soul  by  the  tor- 
tures of  his  body.  He  received  Christian  baptism  at 
the  hands  of  the  man  of  God  who  tausrht  him  the 
more  excellent  way,  and  lived  and  died  in  the  faith 
and  hope  of  the  G-ospel. 

In  many  respects  your  circumstances,  Roman  Cath- 
olics, widely  differ  from  what  were  those  of  this  Hin- 
doo devotee.     You  live  in  a  land  and  in  an  age  of 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  223 

The  resemblance.  Believing.  Exhortation. 

light.     You  form  parts  of  a  great  commimity,  which 
is  penetrated  in  every  direction  by  moral  and  religious 
influences.     And  yet,  in  many  respects,  your  circum- 
stances are  like  unto  his.    You  are  deluded  by  priests ; 
you  beUeve  in  their  ghostly  power,  and  your  soul  sub- 
mits to  it ;  you  are  looking  to  your  confessions,  and 
penances,  and  austerities  for  salvation ;  you  are  ex- 
cluded from  the  light  of  the  Bible  ;  with  all  simplicity 
and  honesty,  you  pray  to  saints  and  to  the  Virgin,  and 
perform  all  that  is  laid  upon  you  by  the  father  confess- 
or ;  and  in  this  way,  through  the  religion  of  the  priest, 
and  not  through  the  religion  of  the  Grospel,  you  hope  to 
get  to  heaven.     But  you  are  deceived.     Your  hopes 
arc  honest,  but  they  arc  built  upon  the  sand.     It  is  not 
by  doing  or  suffering;,  but  by  believing,  that  we  can 
attain  unto  the  salvation  of  the  soul.     "  He  that  be- 
lievcth  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  shall  be  saved,  and  he 
that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned."     ''  He  that  be- 
lieveth  on  the  Son  hath  life."     Roman  Catholics,  fol- 
low, then,  the  example  of  the  Hindoo  devotee.     Give 
up  your  beads  and  your  Agnus  Dei,  your  penances  and 
ritual  observances,  your  crosses,  your  confessions  to 
men,  and  your  holy  water,  and  go  to  your  Bibles,  and 
to  the  Savior  of  the  Bible.     What  all  your  rites  and 
ob.scrvanccs  can  never  accom])lish,  simple  faith  in  Je- 
sus Christ  accomplishes,  and  in  the  moment  faith  fixes 
itself  upon  a  crucified  Christ. 

That  you  may  sec  this  clrarly,  permit  mc  to  .state  to 
you  another  incident.  Wluui  our  Lord  was  put  to 
death,  the  wicked  Jews,  the  more  deeply  to  degrade  him, 
caused  liiin  1o})e  rrueifie,d  between  two  thieves.     One 


'22A  K  1  li  W  A  N  '  S     L  E  T  T  K  R  S 

The  thiof.  How  saved.  Power  of  faith. 

of  these  saw,  in  the  convulsions  of  nature  around  him, 
the  evidences  of  the  divinity  of  Him  who  was  hanging 
by  his  side  on  the  cross ;  and  while  his  companion  in 
wickedness  derided  and  blasphemed,  he  cried  out  from 
the  depths  of  a  convicted  and  believing  soul  unto  Jesus, 
"•  Lord,  remember  me  when  thou  comest  into  thy  king- 
dom." The  following  is  the  reply  of  the  Savior,  "  To- 
day shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  Paradise."  Here,  you 
see,  my  friends,  are  no  penances,  no  prayers  to  saints, 
no  holy  water,  no  olive  oil  blessed  on  Maunday  Thurs- 
day, no  Purgatory ;  it  is  simply  faith  in  Jesus  Christ, 
then  death,  and  then  Paradise,  which  is  only  another 
name  for  heaven.  What  was  it  that  opened  heaven  to 
this  dying  thief,  and  gave  him  admission  to  its  happy 
mansions,  as  one  of  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord  ?  It 
was  simply  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  "  He  that  belie veth 
in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  shall  be  saved."  And  the 
faith  which  opened  heaven  to  the  dying  thief  will  open 
it  to  you.  Faith  is  the  key  which  opens  heaven  to 
your  souls,  and  not  baptism,  nor  the  Eucharist,  nor 
penance,  nor  extreme  unction.  Grive  up,  then,  your 
crosses,  and  your  pictures,  and  your  dependence  upon 
saints  and  sacraments,  and  go  to  Jesus  Christ  for  your- 
selves :  with  true  hearts  say,  "  Lord,  I  believe ;  help 
thou  mine  unbelief,"  and  life,  eternal  life  is  yours. 

That  you  may  see  this  clearly,  permit  me  to  state 
yet  another  incident.  The  Apostle  Peter  never  said  a 
mass  in  his  life ;  he  never  changed  a  wafer  into  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ ;  he  never  sent  a  poor  sinner 
to  pray  to  a  saint  or  virgin  ;  he  never  went  into  a  lit- 
tle box,  or  a  dark  room,  to  hear  confession.     He  was  a 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  225 

Peter  as  a  preacher.  Us  effect.  His  directions. 

simple,  warm-hearted  preacher,  and  in  his  day  lahored 
to  impress  upon  the  minds  of  men  these  two  truths, 
that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  promised  Messiah,  and  that 
all  who  believed  in  him  would  he  saved.  Now  we 
learn  from  the  second  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles that  Peter  preached  to  the  multitudes  assembled 
at  Jerusalem  to  keep  the  feast  of  Pentecost,  with  great 
power.  He  mightily  convinced  them  from  the  Scrip- 
tures that  God  had  made  the  Jesus  whom  they  cruci- 
fied both  Lord  and  Christ.  Convicted  of  their  deep 
sinfulness  by  his  powerful  preaching  and  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  multitudes  crowd  around  him,  asking, "  What 
shall  we  do  to  be  saved  ?"  What  does  he  say  in  re- 
ply ?  Does  he  tell  them  to  go  to  confession,  or  to  do 
penance,  or  to  fast  on  Lent  or  on  Fridays  ?  Does  he 
send  them  to  the  saints  to  ask  their  intercession? 
Nothing  like  this.  What,  then,  docs  he  say  ?  "  Re- 
pent, and  be  baptized,  every  one  of  you,  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ,  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  ye  shall  re- 
ceive the  gift  of  the  Holy  Grhost."  They  obeyed — 
that  is,  they  forsook  their  sins ;  they  believed  in  Jesus 
Christ ;  they  were  baptized  in  his  name ;  and  on  that 
occasion  three  thousand  souls  were  added  to  the 
Church. 

My  dear  Roman  Catholic  friends,  I  once  suffered 
just  as  you  now  do  beoau.so  of  my  utter  ignorance  as 
to  the  way  of  forgiveness  with  God.  I  was  taught  nil 
about  conff\'<si<)ii,  and  confirmaiioii,  and  penance,  and 
saints'  days,  and  fasting,  and  lioly  water,  and  saying 
*'  Hail  Marv.''  f  lf»oked  upon  the  priest  as  the  door- 
keeper of  heavrn,  without  whoso  permission  there  was 

K  2 


226  KIR  WAN's     LETTERS 

Personal  roininisccncc.  The  great  ciucstion.  Its  answer. 

no  admittance ;  but  1  knew  nothing  about  the  Bible, 
and  was  taught  nothing  about  the  work  of  Christ  for 
the  sinner,  nor  about  the  work  of  the  Spirit  in  him. 
In  great  mercy,  and  in  the  way  stated  in  my  letters  to 
Bishop  Hughes,  I  became  a  reader  of  the  Bible  ;  and, 
to  my  utter  amazement,  I  found  there  taught,  with  per- 
fect plainness,  the  way  of  salvation,  which  the  priest 
had  wrapped  up  in  mystery  inextricable.  The  way- 
faring man,  though  a  fool,  may  understand  the  way  in 
which  a  soul  may  be  saved  as  taught  in  the  Bible — it 
is  beyond  the  comprehension  of  Gabriel  as  taught  by 
your  priests.  Do  any  of  you  ask,  as  did  the  heathen 
jailer  of  Philippi,  when  terrified  by  the  effects  of  the 
crashing  earthquake,  "What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved?" 
Permit  me,  as  a  friend  who  has  no  object  in  view  but 
your  temporal  and  eternal  good,  to  place  before  you 
what  I  regard  as  the  scriptural  answer  to  this  moment- 
ous question : 

1.  You  must  feel  that  you  arc  a  sinner,  exceeding- 
ly, in  the  sight  of  God.  The  Bible  teaches  us  that 
we  are  sinners  by  nature  and  by  practice.  It  is  one 
thing  to  believe  this,  it  is  another  to  feel  it.  You 
must  feel  it.  No  man  ever  sends  for  a  physician  until 
he  feels  that  he  is  sick.  The  people  to  whom  Peter 
preached  never  asked  what  they  should  do  to  be  saved 
until  "  they  were  pricked  in  their  heart." 

2.  You  must  feel  and  know  that  there  is  no  way  of 
securing  the  pardon  of  your  sins  but  through  the  re- 
demption there  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  We  are  expressly 
taught,  "  there  is  no  other  name  under  heaven  given 
among  men  whereby  we  must  be  saved." — Acts,  iv., 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  227 

Slrong-hold.  Sum  oC  all  instruction.  Direct  to  heaven. 

12.  This  is  an  idea  that  your  mind  must  grasp  with 
all  its  powers,  and  which  you  are  in  danger  of  letting 
slip,  because  of  the  way  and  manner  in  which  you 
have  been  instructed  as  to  the  efficacy  of  sacraments, 
and  priestly  manipulations,  and  ritual  observances. 

3.  You  must  believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  This 
is  the  end  and  the  sum  of  all  the  instructions  of  the 
New  Testament  to  sinners.  This  is  the  commandment 
of  God,  that  ye  believe  in  the  name  of  his  Son.  Faith 
brings  you  into  a  living  union  with  Christ,  for  whoso 
sake  alone  you  are  accepted  and  saved. 

Here,  then,  we  have  the  time  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion, "What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  ?"  You  must  feel 
that  you  are  a  sinner,  and  you  must  feel  that  none  but 
Christ  can  save  you ;  and  in  heart  and  soul  you  must 
cordially  receive  him,  as  made  unto  you  of  God  wis- 
dom, and  righteousness,  and  sanctiiication,  and  re- 
demption. A  sense  of  sin  will  induce  you  to  seek  for 
its  remedy.  Christ  crucified,  bearing  the  sins  of  his 
people  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree,  is  God's  rempdy 
for  sin ;  and  believing  in  Christ  is  the  application  of 
the  remedy ;  and  believing  in  Christ,  .should  you  die 
the  very  next  hour,  your  soul  would  go,  cleansed  by 
his  atoning  blood,  to  join  the  general  assembly  and 
church  of  the  first-born  in  heaven. 

Need  I  stop,  ere  I  close  this  letter,  to  place  in  con- 
trast before  you  the  Gospel  plan  of  salvation  with  the 
])lan  of  your  priests?  Must  not  the  contrast  strike 
yourselves  as  you  read  and  ponder?  You  ask  what 
you  must  do  to  lie  saved.  The  priest  tells  you  to 
confess,  to  do  penance,  to  pray  to  the  saints,  to  keep 


228 


K  I  R  AV  A  N     S     L  E  T  T  K  U  S 


Tlie  comrasl.  Fearful  process.  Can  any  hesitate  t 

Lent,  to  eat  no  meat  on  stated  days,  to  go  to  mass,  to 
torture  your  body ;  and  when  all  this  is  done,  when 
you  come  to  die,  you  must  be  anointed  with  olive  oil 
blessed  on  Maunday  Thursday.  Nor  will  this  do.  You 
have  then  to  go  to  Purgatory,  to  atone  for  your  venial 
sins  by  your  own  suffering,  unless  you  are  bought  out 
by  the  alms  and  suffrages  of  the  faithful  in  paying  for 
masses  for  your  deUverance  I  AVhat  a  long,  and  com- 
plicated, and  expensive  process  I  And,  after  all,  there 
is  no  tellins;  the  time  when  the  suffras:es  of  the  faith- 
ful,  or  the  masses  of  the  priests,  will  secure  your  de- 
liverance from  purgatorial  fires  I  What  a  dark  and 
fearful  process  I 

In  the  face  of  all  this,  the  Gospel  declares  to  you 
that  the  blood  of  Christ  cleanses  from  all  sin,  and  that 
whosoever  believes  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  shall  be 
saved.  It  offers  you  a  free,  a  full,  a  perfect  salvation, 
and  without  any  priestly  interferences,  and  "without 
money  and  without  price." 

Can  you  hesitate  a  moment  between  the  plan  of  the 
priest  and  the  plan  of  the  G-ospel  ?  The  one  debases 
you  as  a  man,  makes  you  the  slave  of  the  priest,  and 
cheats  you  of  heaven ;  the  other  addresses  you  as  a 
moral  and  intellectual  being,  sends  you  to  the  cross  for 
yourself,  gives  you  free  access  to  God,  and  secures  for 
you  eternal  life. 

Irish  Roman  Catholics  I  would  that  I  could  induce 
you  to  look  at  this  great  subject  in  the  light  of  the  Bi- 
ble. It  is  intimately  connected  with  your  temporal 
and  eternal  interests,  and  with  the  interests  of  unborn 
generations.     When  a  bnv,  I  often  lieard,  and  never 


TO    HI s II o I'   11  u G  n E  s.  229 

Speech  of  Emmet.  Destroyed.  Why  priests  destroy  Bibles. 

but  with  burning  indignation,  of  the  magistrate,  the 
tool  of  British  power,  entering  the  houses  of  the  Irish 
suspected  of  disaft'ection,  and  tearing  from  its  frame 
the  speech  of  Emmet,  made  in  reply  to  the  question 
of  the  bloodthirsty  judge  who  tried  him,  "  What  he 
had  to  sav  wlw  the  sentence  of  death  should  not  be 
passed  against  him  according  to  law  ?"  The  British 
ministry  felt  that  that  speech  fostered  the  spirit  of  na- 
tionality in  the  Irish  bosom,  and  made  every  man  who 
read  it  to  resolve,  at  whatever  expense,  to  be  free  ;  and 
they  destroyed  every  copy  of  it  that  could  be  found,  and 
forbade  its  publication.  As  my  kindred  were  among 
tlie  disaffected  ones,  I  felt  it  to  the  quick.  And  what, 
think  you,  must  be  my  feelings  now,  in  the  vigor  of  my 
manhood,  when  I  see,  in  this  free  land,  the  descend- 
ants of  those  who  fought  at  Vinegar  Hill  and  at  Tara 
permitting  individuals  calling  themselves  the  priests 
of  the  religion  of  Grod  to  enter  their  houses  and  take 
away  their  Bibles,  and  to  forbid  them,  by  the  terrors 
of  eternity,  to  think  for  themselves  on  the  most  impor- 
tant of  all  subjects  connected  with  their  being !  It  i.s 
the  very  feeling  that  prompted  the  British  spies  to  de- 
stroy the  speech  of  Emmet  that  now  prompts  your 
priests  to  destroy  your  Bibles.  Tlic  one  fostered  the 
spirit  of  civil,  the  other  of  religious  freedom.  The 
British  mini.stry  wished  to  suppress  the  breathing  of 
your  fathers  after  their  r-ivil  rights;  your  priests  wi.sh 
to  suppress  the  breathings  of  you,  their  children,  aft- 
er religious  rights.  And  will  yon,  the  .'^nns  of  noble 
."ires,  .submit,  in  a  huid  of  freedom,  to  wear  the  galling 
chains  of  spiritual  bondage?     Will  you  .submit  to  have 


230  K  I  R  AV  A  N  '  S    LETTERS. 

Wear  no  cliains.  Jeremiah's  sorrow.  Letters  ended. 

these  chains  clanking  around  you  to  the  grave,  and, 
when  you  die,  to  have  them  bound  upon  your  children  ; 
and  for  no  eartlily  purpose  but  to  sustain  a  priesthood 
and  a  hierarchy  for  whoso  utter  overthrow  the  civil 
and  religious  interests  of  the  nations,  and  the  temporal 
and  eternal  interests  of  our  race,  are  oalling  aloud  to 
heaven  ? 

If  so,  with  a  slight  variation,  mine  will  be  the  lan- 
guage of  the  pious  Jeremiah,  who  had  the  civil  and 
the  religious  welfare  of  his  people  equally  at  heart :  0 
that  my  head  were  waters,  and  mine  eyes  a  fountain 
of  tears,  that  I  might  weep  day  and  night  for  the  blind- 
ness and  folly  of  my  people. 

My  letters  are  ended.     I  commit  them  to  you,  Ro- 
man Catholics,  and  to  the  blessing  of  Almighty  Grod. 
With  great  respect,  yours,  Kirwan. 


BISHOP   HUGHES   CONFUTED. 


THIRD    SERIES. 


INTRODUCTORY   NOTE. 


"When  I  ended  my  first  series  of  letters  to  Bishop 
Hughes,  I  hoped  and  thought  that  my  part  in  the  Ro, 
mish  controversy  was  also  ended.  Appeals,  however, 
were  made  to  me,  that  I  could  not  resist,  for  a  new  se, 
ries,  in  the  manner  and  spirit  of  the  first.  I  yielded  > 
and  hence  the  second  scries.  Pledging  myself  not  to 
reply  to  any  attacks  made  upon  my  letters  save  by 
him  to  whom  they  were  addressed,  and  feeling,  for 
reasons  stated,  that  he  would  not  reply,  I  again  sup- 
posed my  work  ended ;  but,  contrary  to  my  expecta- 
tions, the  bishop  twice  attempted  a  reply,  and  with 
what  spirit  and  success  I  need  not  inform  the  public. 
His  first  letters  are  as  feeble  as  could  be  desired ;  his 
second  arc  in  the  very  worst  spirit  even  of  popery, 
whose  very  best  spirit  has  but  little  to  recommend  it. 
The  feebleness  of  the  first  letters  to  ''  Dear  Reader," 
and  the  low  pcr.sonalities,  not  to  say  vulgarities,  of 
those  addressed  to  "  Kirwan,"  reveal  the  true  charac- 
ter of  the  author.  They  might  be  published  by  Prot- 
estants in  a  separate  volume,  which  might  be  truly 
entitled,  "  Bisiior  Hcoiiks  UNMASKno."  They  show 
how  little  of  the  gentleman  is  requisite  to  make  a  pop- 
ish bishop.  Those  letters  arc  reviewed  in  the  follow- 
ing pages. 

My  objections  to  the  system  of  popery  arc  stated  in 


234  INTRODUCTORY     NOTE. 

my  first  and  second  series.  They  have  not  hcen  an- 
swered, nor  will  they  soon  he.  The  bishop's  reasons 
for  adherence  to  the  Catholic  Church  are  reviewed  and 
confuted  in  the  present  series.  The  present  series 
pulls  up  the  upas-tree  by  the  roots ;  the  former  series 
lopped  off  its  baleful  branches ;  together,  they  lay  down 
the  rootless,  branchless  trunk  upon  the  earth  to  rot. 

The  arguments  of  these  letters  are  not,  of  course,  new. 
All  that  I  have  attempted  to  do  is  to  strip  the  contro- 
versy of  its  learned  heaviness  ;  by  recasting  and  sim- 
plifying, to  bring  it  down  to  the  comprehension  of  the 
common  mind,  and  thus  to  prepare  a  manual  on  the 
subject  adapted  to  universal  circulation.  Such  a  man- 
ual, unless  I  mistake,  was  greatly  needed  by  papists 
and  Protestants. 

I  commit  these  letters  to  the  kind  care  of  God.  May 
his  Spirit  accompany  their  circulation,  and  render  them 
instrumental  in  "  lifting  up  from  the  world  one  of  its 
heaviest  curses."  Kirwan. 

New  York,  September,  1848. 


REPLY 


TO    THE 


RIGHT   REV.   JOIIX    HUGHES, 

BISHOP  OF  NEW  YORK. 


LETTER   I. 

Introduction. — Free  Discussion  important.  —  Bishop  Hughes  com- 
mencing answering  before  reading  Kirwan. — Excuse  for  the  Charge 
of  Insincerity. — Other  Accounts  settled. — Controversy  on  Roman- 
ism among  the  People. — Object  of  these  Letters. 

rieaaurc.  Good  omen.  Why  no  reply. 


Mv  DEAR  Sir, — Contrary  to  all  my  expectations, 
and  in  the  face  of  the  excuses  which  I  made  for  your 
silence,  you  have  resolved  at  length  to  notice  the  "  Let- 
ters" which  I  have  addressed  to  you.  The  fact  gives 
me  unfeigned  pleasure.  It  is  hailed  by  all  those  in- 
terested in  the  development  of  truth,  and  in  the  expo- 
sure of  error  and  imposture,  as  an  omen  of  good.  Had 
you  been  silent  on  the  subject  of  those  letters,  so  would 
I  have  been.  They  were  assailed  by  some  of  your 
papers  and  priests  throughout  the  country  in  a  manner 
at  once  low  and  rude,  but  I  made  no  reply.  J  was 
pledged  to  suffer  the  assaults  of  such  assailants  to  pass 
unnoticed.  You,  sir,  well  know,  that  by  multitudes 
who  wear  the  garments  of  religion  there  are  no  mani- 
festations of  its  grace  ;  that  many,  in  religious  contro- 


236  K  1  R  \V  A  N  '  s 


U  E  P  L  V 


Priestly  arguments.  Disappointed.  Free  discussion. 

versy,  esteem  vulgar  weapons  the  most  efiectual ;  and 
that  many  treat  an  opponent  whose  arguments  they 
can  not  refute  as  did  the  Jews  the  Savior  in  the  pal- 
ace of  the  high-priest,  who  "  spit  in  his  face,  and  buf- 
feted him,  and  smote  him  with  the  palms  of  their 
hands."  In  arguments  like  these,  your  priests,  espe- 
cially those  imported  from  Ireland,  are  well  versed ; 
they  are  strong  in  abuse.  Nor  would  it  be  any  serious 
disadvantage  to  the  cause  of  Protestantism  if  such  ar- 
guments were  confined  to  them.  Separating  yourself 
from  the  priests  over  whom  you  flourish  your  crook  as 
chief  shepherd,  I  stated  in  one  of  my  letters  that, 
should  you  reply,  you  "  would  reply  as  a  scholar  and 
a  gentleman."  In  the  same  letter  I  also  stated  to  you 
that,  if  you  could  secure  time  enough  from  your  varied 
occupations  to  reply  to  some  of  my  objections  which 
forbid  my  return  to  your  Church,  "  there  was  one,  at 
least,  that  would  read  your  reply  with  great  pleasure  ;" 
and  while  disappointed  at  the  want  of  scholar-like  and 
gentlemanly  bearing  of  your  letters — at  their  weak- 
ness, evasiveness,  and  vulgarity' — I  have  yet  hailed 
them  and  read  them  with  pleasure. 

The  history  of  the  world  and  of  the  progress  of  truth 
clearly  prove  the  exceeding  importance  oi  free  discus- 
sion. From  such  discussion,  conducted  in  a  right  spir- 
it, nothing  can  suffer  but  error  and  imposture.  This 
Protestantism  courts,  and  popery  condemns,  where  the 
power  is  in  her  hands.  If  you  and  I,  sir,  lived  in  Aus- 
tria, Spain,  Sicily,  or  in  the  States  of  the  Church,  your 
reply  to  my  letters  might  come,  not  in  the  Freeman's 
Journal,  but  in  the  way  of  a  warrant  through  the  civil 


TO     b  I  S  U  O  P     HUGHES.  287 

Discussion  no  heresy.  ^  Two  attempts. 

magistrate  for  my  imprisonment  or  banishment  as  a 
heretic.  But  here  we  can  have  free  discussion  to  the 
full ;  and  however  you  or  your  people  may  feel  on  the 
subject,  I  am  per.suaded  that  Protestants  are  resolved 
to  use  their  privilege.  And  could  your  people  think, 
and  read,  and  believe,  and  act  for  themselves,  without 
any  of  the  terrors  or  trammels  which  your  system  casts 
around  them,  I  feel  persuaded  that  two  generations 
would  reduce  the  spiritual  power  of  the  Pope,  your 
master,  to  a  yet  lower  point  than  that  to  which  his 
temporal  power  has  fallen.  Hence  I  hail  your  letters 
as  an  advance  toward  free  discussion,  which  has  ever 
been  the  desire  of  Protestants,  because  of  its  tendency 
to  the  development  of  truth. 

Permit  me,  in  the  briefest  manner,  and  before  I  pro- 
ceed to  other  statements,  to  allude  to  a  few  things  in 
your  introductory  letter.  Some  of  them,  to  me,  and  to 
many  of  your  readers,  appear  singular  enough. 

You  begin  by  saying  that  you  have  "  seen  a  certain 
work  announced  and  much  lauded  in  the  papers,  en- 
titled '  Kirwan's  Letters  to  Bi.shop  Hughes.'  I  have 
not  read  these  letters,  thoug-h  I  have  tioice  attempted 
to  do  soP  And  yet,  in  the  subsequent  paragraphs  of 
this  letter,  you  seem  to  know  that  Kirwan  has  treated 
you  with  pf-r.'^onal  respect;  that  he  imputes  to  you  a 
want  of  sincerity  in  the  profession  of  the  Catholic  faith ; 
that  his  letters  have  attracted  attention  "  by  a  spright- 
liness  of  .stylo  in  a.ssailing  the  doctrines  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  which  renth^rs  them  a  pleasing  (contrast  to  the 
filthy  volumes  that  have  been  written  on  the  same 
sidc.and  on  th(;  same  subject ;"  you  seem  to  know  "the 


238  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     REPLY 

Bail  illlt'iiiiiin.  Siiiull  capital.  Coinplaiut. 

great  topics  which  Kirwan  has  discussed,"  and  that 
"he  has  pubhshed  reasons  for  having  left  the  Cathohc 
Church,  and  for  refusing  to  return,"  And  for  these 
letters,  which  you  so  well  understand  without  having 
ever  read  them,  you  resolve  to  put  forth  an  antidote. 
Now,  sir,  you  either  read  Kirwan's  letters,  or  you  did 
not  read  them.  If  you  read  them,  why  deny  it  ?  if 
you  did  not  read  them,  how  came  you  by  such  an  ac- 
curate knowledge  of  their  contents  and  of  their  spirit  ? 
and  has  the  world  ever  heard  or  read  of  a  man  seriously 
undertaking  to  reply  to  a  book  which  he  has  not  read  ? 
For  your  own  sake,  sir,  I  wish  all  your  assumed  care- 
lessness here  had  an  air  of  more  truthfulness,  for  there 
is  not  a  man  in  or  out  of  your  Church  who  reads  your 
letter  who  will  not  say  that  you  either  read  Kirwan's 
letters,  or  that  you  had  them  read  to  you.  And  there 
was  no  need  of  exposing  yourself  to  such  an  imputa- 
tion for  the  unworthy  purpose  of  expressing  your  con- 
tempt. I  disclaim  every  thing  personally  offensive  te 
yourself  when  I  say  that,  as  to  truthfulness,  papal 
priests  have  but  little  capital  on  which  to  trade,  and 
that  they  should  be  very  sparing  of  what  they  have. 
They  are  already  trembling  on  the  verge  of  bankrupt- 
cy. Where  your  sect  is  concerned,  there  are  many 
who  would  not  believe  them  on  oath,  knowing  your 
doctrine  of  dispensation. 

You  also  complain  that  I  do  you  great  injustice  by 
imputing  to  you  a  want  of  sincerity  in  your  profession 
of  belief  in  the  Catholic  faith.  I  felt  when  I  made  it, 
and  now  feel,  that  the  imputation  is  a  serious  one ; 
and  yet  I  knew  not  how  to  withhold  it,  nor  do  I  know 


TO    BISHOP     HUGHES.  239 

Allowances.  Not  called  for.  Way  of  reasoning. 

now  how  to  withdraw  it.  I  can  make  vast  allowances 
for  ignorance,  but  you  are  not  an  ignorant  man.  So 
I  can  make  great  allowance  for  the  prejudices  of  early 
training,  and  for  the  influences  of  a  narrow  and  bigot- 
ed education,  when  so  conducted  as  to  fill  the  mind, 
not  with  knowledge,  but  with  error  and  superstition. 
But  thus,  unless  I  am  misinformed,  you  have  not  been 
trained  or  educated.  I  can  also  make  allowance  for 
well-educated  and  well-disciplined  minds  that  have  al- 
ways been  excluded  from  contact  with  minds  holding 
opposite  sentiments,  and  that  are  unaccustomed  to  hear 
questioned  the  truth  of  their  opinions ;  but  this  is  not 
your  case.  You  are  no  stranger  to  polite  society — to 
the  company  of  educated  men.  You  well  know  that 
the  doctrines  peculiar  to  your  Church  are  rejected  as 
not  only  unscriptural,  but  as  imrcasonablc  and  as  ab- 
surd, by  the  great  mass  of  the  educated  mind  of  our 
world  ;  and  how  to  account  for  your  professed  belief  in 
them  I  knew  not,  and  now  know  not.  The  thing  came 
up  before  my  mind  in  this  wise  :  Does  Bishop  Hughes 
believe  that  a  mass  mumbled  over  for  half  a  dollar 
will  avail  in  getting  a  soul  out  of  Purgatory  ?  Docs 
he  behevc  that  a  little  wafer  made  of  flour  is  convert- 
ed into  the  real  body  and  blood  of  Christ  by  his  conse- 
cration of  it?  Docs  ho  believe  that  ho  can  send  a 
man  to  heaven  by  rubbing  Iiim  with  a  little  olive  oil 
when  dying?  If  ho  believes  in  these  things,  he  is  a 
diinci; ;  but  he  is  not  a  dunce  ;  therefore  ho  does  not 
l)elieve  them.  This,  sir,  I  frankly  tell  you,  was  tbe 
train  of  thought  which  led  me  to  th(5  conclusion  ftf 
wludi  you  ('(''Mpliiin  as  an  injurious  imputation.    There 


240  K  I  R  \V  A  N  '  S      U  E  1'  L  V 

A  preference.  Generous  instinct.  Hits. 

Avas  no  alternative  for  me  but  to  question  your  sense 
or  your  sincerity,  and  I  preferred  the  latter,  as,  on  the 
whole,  most  pleasing  to  yourself.  I  do  not  know  that 
there  is  a  living  man  who  would  not  prefer  to  be  writ- 
ten a  knave  rather  than  a  fool.  The  first  simply  im- 
plies a  sinful  misdirection  of  his  sense,  and  may  be 
the  imputation  of  selfishness  or  malice ;  the  other  is  a 
denial  that  he  has  any  sense  ;  so  that  the  imputation, 
instead  of  "  betraying  the  evil  effects  of  my  Presbyte- 
rian training,"  exhibits  rather  "  the  generous  instincts 
of  my  Irish  nature"  in  making  for  you  the  best  apol- 
ogy that  the  case  would  admit.  I  hope  this  explana- 
tion will  satisfy  you.     I  have  no  doubt  it  will. 

I  think,  sir,  your  friends  will  regret  the  whole  tone 
of  your  introductory  letter,  considering  the  courtesy 
which  I  observed  toward  you.  It  exhibits  a  spirit  un- 
worthy of  a  bishop.  You  could  continue  in  silence 
without  any  one  having  a  right  to  impugn  your  mo- 
tives; but  when  you  came  forward  to  reply,  you 
should  have  exhibited  less  irritation.  I  am  sorry  that 
my  letters  vexed,  if  they  failed  to  convert  you.  I 
hoped  you  would  take  them  as  a  good-natured  Irish- 
man, as  I  supposed  you  were.  Your  conjecture  and 
mistake  as  to  my  name  might  have  been  omitted. 
Your  regrets  over  my  Irish  birth  are  ludicrous.  Your 
saying  that  you  would  rather  I  had  been  any  body 
else's  countryman  than  yours  is  probably  among  the 
truest  things  you  have  said.  You  know  not  why  I  di- 
rected my  letters  to  you.  This  is  owing  to  the  fact 
that  you  commenced  answering  before  readiyig  them. 
You  felt,  perhaps,  that  reading  them  might  bias  your 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  241 

Of  no  importance.  Truth  the  great  object.  Coinniotion. 

mind.  You  assert,  as  far  as  you  know,  that  the  pub- 
He  never  asked  for  my  reasons  for  leaving  your  Church. 
Had  I  recently  gone  to  confession  to  you,  you  might 
think  differently.  You  say  it  is  a  matter  of  the  least 
importance  to  Catholics  whether  I  return  or  not.  It 
is  very  likely  that  the  sun  would  rise  and  set  without 
either  of  us;  it  certainly  did  so  before  we  were  born, 
and  may  possibly  continue  to  do  so  after  we  are  dead. 
It  is  not  wise,  even  for  a  bishop,  to  indulge  the  conceit 
that  the  sun  rises  in  his  mouth  and  sets  at  his  feet. 
But  all  this,  sir,  is  aside  from  the  great  object  of  my 
letters ;  it  is  the  arg'umentum  ad  invidiam,  and  is 
unworthy  of  you  and  of  me.  If  my  object  in  my  let- 
ters to  you,  or  your  object  in  the  letters  of  which  you 
make  mine  the  occasion,  or  the  object  of  these  letters 
in  reply  to  yours,  is  obtained,  we  must  omit  personal- 
ities, and  seek  solely  and  only  the  trutli.  The  truth 
only  is  worthy  the  pursuit  of  high-minded  and  Chris- 
tian men. 

You  say,  and  truly,  that  the  public  mind  is  awake 
to  the  relative  positions  of  the  Catholic  and  Protestant 
Churches.  This  is  emphatically  so.  Controversies 
which  hitherto  have  been  confined  to  universities  and 
ecclesiastics  are  now  down  lunung  the  people.  Even 
llic  Italian  mind,  which  the  evil  influences  of  your 
('hurch  hav(!  almost  extinguished,  is  questioning  the 
truth  of  your  dogmas  and  forms,  and  is  breathing  alt- 
er emancipation  frfini  lh«'m.  Catholic  Germany  is  in 
agitation,  and  th(^  aid  of  ])rinnes  is  invoked  t<»  prcivcnt 
the  people  frf)m  becoming  Protestant.  TIk;  entire 
Catholic  world  is  in  commotion,  .seeking  to  break  the 

L 


242  K  1  U  \V  A  N  '  S     U  K  P  I,  Y 

Counter  currents.  A  mistake.  Reasons  for  it. 

fetters  with  which  your  popes  and  priests  have  bound 
it  for  ages.  In  this  land  of  our  adoption,  all  minds  arc 
using  the  privilege  of  thinking  freely  secured  to  them  ; 
and  where  there  is  one  Protestant  who  passes  over  to 
your  Church,  there  are  fifty  papists  who  become  Prot- 
estants. Your  people  begin  to  feel  that  they  have 
permitted  their  mercenary  priests  to  think  for  them 
long  enough ;  they  now  commence  thinking  for  them- 
selves ;  and  I  am  pleased  to  inform  you  that  even  Kir- 
wan's  Letters,  bad  as  they  arc  in  your  estimation, 
have  been  eagerly  sought  for  by  many  of  them,  and 
have  been  blessed  to  the  hopeful  conversion  of  not  a 
few.  You  say  the  Catholic  religion  is  now  looked 
upon  with  less  disfavor  than  formerly.  I  am  per- 
suaded, sir,  that  you  mistake  upon  this  subject,  and 
that  you  will  be  convinced  of  that  mistake  ere  long. 
Controversy  has  assumed  a  kinder  tone,  and  efibrts  are 
put  forth  in  a  more  quiet  and  Christian  way  than  for- 
merly, but  the  mind  of  the  world  and  its  piety  were 
never  more  intently  engaged  for  the  overthrow  of  pop- 
ery than  at  the  present  hour.  You,  sir,  are  regarded 
as  at  the  head  of  a  political  party — you  are  regarded 
as  carrying  the  vote  of  the  papal  Irish  in  your  pocket. 
Papists,  evefi  here,  are  regarded  as  so  wedded  to  the 
Pope  as  to  be  willing  to  cast  their  vote  for  the  party 
that  praises  him  loudest.  The.se,  sir,  are  the  reasons 
why  you  misread  the  attentions  which  are  paid  to 
yourself,  and  the  eulogies  which  are  pronounced  on  the 
Pope.  Some  of  the  very  men  who  flatter  you  in  pub- 
lic, and  who  applaud  the  Pope  in  the  Tabernacle,  con- 
temn you  in  their  hearts,  and  pray  at  their  family  al- 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  243 

Prayer.  Your  own  course.  Object  staled. 

tars  that  popish  superstition  may  come  to  a  perpetual 
end.     And  you  well  know  it  all. 

Yet,  sir,  there  is  an  excitement  on  the  pubUc  mind 
which  will  secure  a  reading  for  what  you  or  I  may 
say,  kindly  and  intelligently,  as  to  popery  or  Protest- 
antism. I  have  stated  my  objections  to  your  Church. 
It  is  a  matter  of  public  regret  that  you  have  not  re- 
solved to  meet  and  obviate  them.  You  have  marked 
out,  however,  your  own  course.  You  have  attempted 
to  show  the  reasons  why  no  CathoUc  should  forsake 
his  Church,  and  why  all  Protestants  should  seek  her 
communion  as  soon  as  possible.  It  will  be  my  pleas- 
ure to  follow  you  step  by  step,  and  to  show  the  utter 
truthlessne.ss  of  every  argument  you  have  adduced  to 
show  that  yours  is  the  one  holy,  catholic,  and  apostol- 
ical Church,  out  of  whose  communion  there  is  no  sal- 
vation. This  no  man  has  ever  yet  succeeded  in  doing. 
Can  you  hope  to  be  successful  where  others,  more 
learned,  more  acute,  and  less  burdened  with  duties, 
have  failed  ? 

My  objections  to  your  Church  arc  Ijcfore  the  world. 
They  stand  there,  abused,  but  unanswered.  This  is 
one  point  gained.  It  will  be  gaining  another  if  I  can 
show  the  baselessness  of  every  argument  you  use  to 
bind  your  jx!ople  to  it,  and  to  induce  others  \o  enter  it. 
To  do  this  will  be  my  object  in  the  following  letters. 
Yours,  Km  WAN. 


244  K  I  K  W  A  N  '  S     REPLY 


Sluiiil-poiiU.  Frailty.  Weak  distillation. 


LETTER    11. 

Bishop  Hughes's  Letters  characterized. — Coolness  of  their  State- 
ments.— Their  Argument  one  enforcing  Despotism. — The  Principle 
that  the  Bible  has  no  Authority  but  what  the  Church  gives  it,  and 
that  it  must  be  understood  as  the  Church  interprets  it,  examined. 

My  dear  Sir, — I  now  proceed  to  the  examination 
of  the  letters  whieh  you  have  addressed  to  "  Dear 
Reader,"  and  of  which  mine  to  you  have  been  the  oc- 
casion. I  have  taken  the  stand-point  outside  your 
Church  which  you  requested  your  "  Reader"  to  take, 
and  there  I  have  considered  and  inwardly  digested 
them.  My  views  in  reference  to  them  I  will  now 
frankly  and  candidly  give  to  you  and  to  the  public; 
and  if  a  word  or  sentiment  shall  escape  me  not  essen- 
tial to  my  main  object,  that  will  give  you  pain,  I  beg 
you  to  charge  it  to  the  account  of  that  frailty  of  our 
common  natures,  from  which,  alas  I  neither  Peter  nor 
his  successors  were  nor  are  exempt. 

These  letters  give  the  old  statement  about  the  papal 
being  the  only  true  Church,  and  in  the  old  way — a 
statement  which  has  been  better  made  very  many 
times.  There  is  an  utter  absence  from  it  of  freshness ; 
it  is  a  mere  distillation  from  other  minds,  wonderfully 
weakened  in  the  process.  Out  of  the  old  beaten  track 
of  Christ  appointing  apostles,  and  making  Peter  their 
Pope — of  giving  to  them,  and  especially  to  him,  the 
keys  of  the  kingdom,  you  seem  unable  to  take  a  step ; 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  245 

Falling  in  the  scale.  Coolness.  Our  age. 

and  you  present  the  argument,  if  it  can  be  so  called, 
in  the  ^Yeakest  and  dullest  form  that  I  have  yet  seen 
if.  How  to  account  for  this — whether  on  the  ground 
of  an  over-estimate  of  your  talents,  or  that  you  are 
reasoning  against  your  own  internal  convictions — I 
know  not.  Although  comparatively  unknown,  and 
with  hut  little  general  reputation  at  stake,  I  would  not 
be  the  author  of  them  for  your  crook,  keys,  and  mitre. 
They  have  let  you  down  many  degrees  in  the  intellect- 
ual scale. 

A  remarkable  feature  of  these  letters  is  the  coolness 
and  confidence  with  which  their  statements  are  made. 
These  statements  have  been  logically  and  theologically 
refuted  very  many  times,  and  yet  you  reproduce  them 
with  as  much  composure  as  if  they  were  the  utterance 
of  the  divine  Spirit — as  if  they  were  not  the  merest, 
and  some  of  them  the  most  foolish  assumptions.  The 
argument  of  a.ssertion  is  one  in  which  your  Church  is 
very  powerful,  because,  with  a  certain  order  of  mind, 
it  is  so  potent.  With  many,  it  is  suflicient  to  know 
that  the  Pope,  the  bisho]),  or  the  priest  says  so  ;  and  it 
is  difhcult  to  conjecture  what  those  may  not  say  who 
aflirm  that  they  can  change  a  little  wafer  made  of 
flour  into  the  real  br»dy  and  blood  of  Christ.  But  you, 
sir,  should  know  that  you  live  not  in  lln'  age  of  Thomas 
A(|uina.<i,  and  that  you  are  read  by  increasing  multi- 
tudes in  your  own  Church,  with  whom  assertion  is 
.•^impiy  assertion,  in  unr  ilriy  the  reason  of  a  child 
holds  against  the  a.s.scrtion  of  a  ]iricst. 

The  argument  of  these  letters  is  one  maintaining 
and    enforcing   ecclesiastical   despotism.      Clirist   ap- 


246  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     REPLY 

neathrn  and  publicans.  Peter.  ("oroner's  verdict. 

pointed  apostles;  over  the  twelve  he  placed  Peter  as 
Pope ;  to  these  and  their  successors  he  gave  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Church  in  all  ages  and  countries,  and 
the  power  of  the  keys  to  admit  or  to  exclude,  to  bind 
or  to  loose,  as  they  might  deem  meet ;  and  all  who 
submit  not  to  this  external  arrangement,  which  you 
call  "  the  body  of  the  Church,"  must  be  both  to  God 
and  to  the  Church  as  heathen  and  publicans.  If  this 
argument  is  true,  then  there  is  not  a  man  on  earth  who 
can  be  saved,  however  he  may  submit  to  the  yoke  of 
Christ,  unless,  in  addition,  he  puts  on  the  yoke  of  the 
Pope.  And  yet  the  Grospel  is  called  a  "  law  of  liber- 
ty ;"  and  the  generous  and  warm-hearted  Peter,  who, 
although,  according  to  your  showing,  the  first  Pope, 
yet  wore  no  shackles,  declares,  "  Of  a  truth  I  perceive 
that  Grod  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  but  in  every  nation 
he  that  feareth  him,  and  worketh  righteousness,  is 
accepted  of  him."  Sir,  the  monstrous  conclusion  to 
which  it  leads  proves  your  argument  to  be  a  monstrous 
one ;  and  that  argument  is  put  forth  at  a  time  when 
the  divine  right  of  kings  and  priests  to  enslave  the  na- 
tions, civilly  and  spiritually,  is  passing  away  like  the 
foam  upon  the  waters  before  the  indignant  scorn  of  the 
world !  The  fate  of  the  doctrine  of  divine  right  to  hold 
in  bondage  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men,  as  held  by 
kings  and  papal  priests,  reached  this  country  about  the 
commencement  of  last  Lent,  when  your  letters  died. 
I  have  sometimes  thought  that  a  coroner's  jury,  em- 
panneled  to  investigate  the  cause  of  the  death  of  your 
letters,  would  render  the  following  verdict :  "  Died  be- 
cau.se  of  the  gracious  visitation  of  Almighty  G-od  upon 


T  U     BISHOP     II  U  G  H  E  s.  247 

Stones  in  a  pile.  The  Bible  authority.  First  topic. 

the  doctrine  of  divine  right,  as  held  by  kings,  and  popes, 
and  bishops,  and  other  inferior  clergy,  which  has  re- 
cently taken  place  in  Europe."* 

But  I  pass  from  the  general  impressions  made  by 
the  perusal  of  your  letters  to  the  consideration  of  their 
statements.  You  will  remember  that  my  work  is  not 
to  prove  any  thing  save  the  utter  truthlcssness  of  your 
positions.  Your  numbered  paragraphs  are  like  stones 
in  a  pile,  in  contact,  but  without  any  logical  arrange- 
ment or  connection.  I  will  cull  from  them  your  main 
principles,  and  will  seek  to  show  you  that  they  are  the 
merest  papal  assumptions.  In  doing  this,  I  will  not 
confine  myself  to  your  arrangement,  nor  yet  to  your 
lanfma£;e  or  method  of  argumentation.     I  will  even 

DO  O 

give  to  your  principles  the  advantage  of  the  better 
statement  made  of  them  by  standard  papal  authors,  as 
T  truly  believe  that  nothing  is  finally  lost  by  fairness. 
1.  You  asacrl  thai  Uic  Bible  has  no  authority,  save 
what  your  Church  gives  it,  and  that  it  must  be  un- 
derstood and  received  as  your  Church  interprets  it ; 
and  you  flout  ]irivatc  interpretation  as  the  root  of  all 
heresy  and  of  all  evil.  Although  this  is  not  among 
your  first  postulates,  I  select  it  as  the  first  for  exami- 
nation, bccau.sc  of  its  fundamental  importance.  If  I 
have  no  right  to  read  (jr  interpret  the  I^ible,  or  to  de- 
duce from  a  single  passage  of  it  a  meaning  differing 
from  that  which  your  Church  puis  upon  it,  then  con- 
troversy is  ended,      f  am  .shut  up  either  to  return  to 

•  Hern  rcfercnro  in  made  to  ilip  Rcvolulionn  in  Europe  in  1848, 
among  whicli  waH  liio  pulling  ii[i  of  tlic  Roman  KepuMic  .'iiid  the 
flight  oftlif  Pope. 


:248  K  1  11  W  A  N  '  S      R  E  P  I,  Y 

Neither.  Proof  sought.  How  is  this  .' 

holy  mother,  or — to  go  to  hell.  Now,  sir,  as  by  the 
grace  of  God  I  intend  to  do  neither  the  one  nor  the 
other,  I  will  show  you  that  the  principle  above  asserted 
is  a  false  assumption.  To  be  sure  it  is  not  yours,  nor 
Milner's,  nor  Hay's  merely  ;  it  is  asserted  by  the  Coun- 
cil of  Trent,  and  all  are  cursed  who  refuse  to  receive 
it.  But  you  know  by  this  time  how  much  I  care  for 
your  cures  or  your  curses. 

The  first  question  I  wish  to  ask  is,  Where  is  the  au- 
thority you  claim  for  your  Church  given  her  ?  Upon 
this  pomt  I  must  have  proof  beyond  question.  Do  you 
assert  the  need  of  an  infallible  interpreter  of  the  will 
of  G-od  ?  Such  a  one  would  be  convenient,  but  where 
is  such  need  asserted?  where  is  such  an  interpreter 
appointed  ?  If  you  point  me  to  a  passage  of  Scripture, 
you  admit  my  right  of  private  interpretation,  for  I  must 
exercise  my  judgment  to  decide  whether  it  is  or  is  not 
to  the  point.  If  you  tell  me  that  uniform  tradition  as- 
serts the  possession  of  this  authority  by  the  Church, 
how  do  I  know  that  your  tradition  is  true?  Your 
Church  has  corrupted  the  written  AVord  ;  hence  I  may 
infer  that,  if  there  is  any  such  thing  as  unwritten  tra- 
dition, she  has  corrupted  that  also. 

The  Scriptures,  you  say  (paragraph  No.  10),  owe  to 
your  Church  their  character  for  authenticity  and  in- 
spiration. How  is  this?  The  Old  Testament  was 
completed,  and  was  in  use  hundreds  of  years  before  the 
coming  of  Christ.  The  evangelists  and  apostles  who 
wrote  the  New  Testament  were  inspired  so  to  do  by 
the  Holy  Ghost.  These  things  are  capable  of  the  full- 
est proof;  nor  would  their  proof  be  weakened  a  hair  if 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  249 

Proof  without  the  Church.  The  fabric  totters.  Truth  connected. 

the  whole  papal  Church  were  swallowed  up  with  the 
company  of  "  Core.*'  Why  is  the  Bible,  more  than 
any  other  ancient  book,  indebted  to  your  Church  for 
its  character  ?  Do  wc  not  prove  the  apocryphal  books 
uninspired  wliich  your  Church  places  in  the  canon  ? 
and,  with  equal  facility,  could  we  not  prove  the  Epis- 
tles of  Paul  to  be  inspired  if  your  Church  had  taught 
otherwise  ?  Do  we  not,  with  the  utmost  facility,  show 
all  your  corruptions  of  Christianity  and  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  separate  the  false  from  the  true  as  easily  as 
does  the  husbandman  the  chaff  from  the  wheat  ? 

The  Scriptures,  as  we  possess  them,  existed  before 
the  rise  of  your  Church,  before  a  general  council  ever 
commenced,  before  a  declaration  was  ever  made  by  a 
council  as  to  the  canon  of  Scripture.  Any  such  decla- 
ration must  be  founded  on  antecedent  evidence  ;  and 
unless  such  evidence  existed  previous  to  the  declaration 
of  it,  the  declaration  itself  is  a  falsehood.  Let  it,  then, 
be  granted  that  we  have  no  evidence  of  the  truth  of 
Scripture  save  what  the  Church  of  Rome  gives  us,  and 
the  whole  fabric  of  Christianity  totters  to  its  base. 
Are  you  prepared  for  this  result?  or  would  you  rather 
sustain  popery  than  Christianity  ? 

'I'ruth  is  th(!  great  object  proposed  by  God  to  our  be- 
lief. Religious  (liflers  from  other  truth  only  in  its  su- 
perior imj)urtance.  .Ml  tnillis  in  the  univcr.se  are  con- 
nected tt)gcther,  and  make  a  harmonious  whole;  they 
strengthen  and  fortify  carh  other.  And  as  God  pro- 
poses truth  to  our  bcTnif,  he  has  endowed  us  witli  minds 
capabif!  of  examining  the-  claiiiis  of  all  things  soliciting 
our  bcli<!f,  and  has  surrounded  us  with  motives  ever 

L2 


250  K  I  U  \V  A  N  '  S     11  E  P  L  V 

How  forincii.  Galileo.  Who  is  Holy  Mother? 

impelling  us  to  seek  and  to  love  the  truth.  We  have, 
in  the  works  of  God,  the  evidences  of  his  eternal  power 
and  Godhead  ;  w^e  have,  in  his  Word,  the  more  full  rev- 
elation of  his  will ;  and  he  has  so  formed  us  that  we 
can  not  believe  without  proof,  and  that  we  can  not  re- 
ject with ;  at  least,  I  know  of  no  w^ay  of  doing  other- 
wise save  hy  turning  papist.  Now,  why  should  the 
Bible  be  exempted  from  the  general  law  which  rules 
my  acceptance  of  all  truth  ?  While  permitted  to  think 
for  myself  on  all  other  subjects,  why  should  I  be  for- 
bidden to  investigate  the  Scriptures  for  myself?  why 
bound  up  to  believe  them  only  as  your  Church  inter- 
prets them  ?  Sir,  there  must  be  some  priestly  device 
at  the  bottom  of  all  this.  As  reasonably  might  your 
Church  forbid  me  to  believe  any  thing  in  astronomy, 
or  in  physical  or  moral  philosophy,  contrary  to  her 
teaching,  as  forbid  me  to  receive  the  Bible  save  in  the 
sense  which  she  gives  it ;  and  you  remember  she  sent 
Galileo  to  prison  for  teaching  that  the  earth  moves 
around  the  sun. 

I  must  believe  the  Scriptures  only  in  the  sense  of 
your  Church  —  "Holy  Mother!"  But  who  is  she? 
where  is  her  residence  ?  You  define  her,  in  a  contro- 
versy with  a  late  distinguished  divine,  to  be  "  the  visi- 
ble society  of  Christians,  composed  of  the  people  who 
are  taught  and  the  pastors  who  teach,  by  virtue  of  a 
certain  divine  commission  recorded  in  the  28th  of 
Matthew,  addressed  to  the  apostles  and  their  legiti- 
mate successors  until  the  end  of  the  world ;"  so  that 
the  people  and  their  pastors  constitute  "  Holy  Mother 
Church  ;"  and  "holy  mother"  is  the  rule  of  faith;  so 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  251 

The  old  lady.  Holy  fatUers  and  holy  mothers. 

that  "  holy  mother"  is  the  rule  of  "  holy  mother ;"  that 
is,  the  venerable  and  fretful  old  lady  wills  as  she  wish- 
es, and  does  as  she  wills!  Has  not  this  been  very 
much  so  ? 

But  the  people  and  their  pastors  form  the  Church, 
and  the  Church  is  the  rule  of  faith  I  And  yet  the  peo- 
ple and  their  true  pastors,  those  who  daily  labor  among 
them,  visiting  their  sick,  and  burying  their  dead,  have 
nothins:  to  do  with  the  rule.  The  authoritative  mean- 
ing  of  Scripture  is  declared  by  your  bishops,  and  even 
of  these,  not  one  in  ten  has  any  thing  to  do  with  it. 
What,  for  instance, -have  you  to  do  with  it?  Practi- 
cally, it  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Pope  and  his  cardinals. 
So  that  '■^holy  mother,''^  the  rule  of  faith,  is  made  up 
of  a  few  holy  fathers,  many  of  whom,  as  to  sense,  are 
the  merest  drivelers,  and  as  to  morals,  the  merest  de- 
bauchees !  Now,  sir,  if  I  go  to  these  holy  fathers,  who, 
individually,  are  men,  but  who,  unitedly,  are  "  holy 
mother,''''  for  the  sense  of  Scrij)ture,  must  not  my  re- 
ligion be  based  upon  man  ?  and  from  building  upon 
such  men,  I  am  compelled  to  cry  out,  iu  the  language 
of  the  Litany,  "  May  the  good  Lord  deliver  me." 

But  admitting,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  that  I 
am  bound  to  receive  the  Scriptures  as  your  Cluirch  in- 
terprets them,  then  will  you  answer  mo  a  few  ques- 
tions ?  How  am  I  to  obtain  her  sense  of  them  ?  On 
the  greater  part  of  the  Scriptures  she  has  given  forth 
no  ])itiding  intrrprctafion.  At  what  period  of  Ihe  life 
of  holy  mothfT  am  I  most  likely  to  g<L  a  true  inler- 
prftatir)n  ?  Ts  it  wlien  she  was  Arian  with  Pope  Li- 
berius  ?  or  wlifti  she  was  pagan  with  Mnrcclliiius  ?  or 


252  K  I  R  A\'  A  N  '  S     K  E  P  L  Y 

When  inquire.  Important  questions. 

wlien  she  was  Pelagian  with  Pope  Clement  XL  ?  or 
when  she  was  infidel  with  Leo  X.  ?  or  when  strumpets 
were  her  waiting-maids  with  John  XIL  and  Alexander? 
or  is  it  when  she  was  drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  mar- 
tyrs ?  or  when  rival  popes  were  tearing  out  each  other's 
bowels  ?  or  is  it  when  in  the  height  of  her  charity  .she 
was  thundering  her  curses  from  Trent  against  all  who 
refused  to  say  Amen  to  her  decisions  ?  These,  sir,  are 
very  important  questions  to  be  answered,  as  I  may  be 
Arian,  Pelagian,  or  infidel,  a  Calvinist,  or  an  Arminian, 
according  to  the  tune  I  seek  from  holy  mother  her  in- 
terpretations of  the  word  of  God.  ■  Perhaps  my  rever- 
ence for  the  venerable  old  lady,  now  in  her  wrinkles 
and  dotage,  might  be  greater  than  it  is,  were  it  not  for 
my  sense  of  her  dissolute  and  changeful  life. 

But  I  find  I  have  finished  a  letter  without  finishing 
my  analysis  of  the  principle  under  examination.  I 
will  resume  it  in  my  next. 

Yours,  &c.,  KiRWAN. 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  253 

Examination  renewed.  God  my  father.  Blistered  lips. 


LETTER    I  IT. 

Examination  of  Church  Interpretation  continued. 

My  dear  Sir, — In  my  last  letter  I  commenced,  with- 
out concluding,  an  examination  of  the  principle  that 
the  Bible  has  no  authority  save  what  your  Church 
gives  it,  and  that  it  mtist  be  understood  and  received 
as  your  Church  interprets  it.  Upon  this  principle, 
sufficiently  disproved  hy  the  considerations  already  pre- 
.sented,  I  have  a  few  things  more  to  say. 

I  must  receive  the  Scriptures  in  the  sense  and  mean- 
ing which  your  Church  gives  them  I  God  is  my  fa- 
ther, and  Jesus  Christ  is  7ny  .Savior  as  well  as  yours. 
His  word  is  a  revelation  of  his  will  to  me  as  well  as  to 
you,  or  as  to  any  body  of  men  upon  earth.  "  God,  who 
at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners  spake  in  times 
past  unto  the  fathers  hy  the  })rophcts,  hath  in  these 
la.st  days  spoken  to  us  by  his  Son  ;"  so  that,  notwith- 
standing the  puerile  distinction,  unworthy  of  a  man  of 
sense,  you  make  (paragraph  No.  40),  God  docs  speak 
to  me  through  the  prophets,  ami  liis  Sr.n,  in  his  word  ; 
and  yet  I  must  not  hear  him,  nor  consider  his  sayings 
as  po.s.scssing  any  authority  or  meaning,  until  lioly 
mother  gives  his  sayings  lo  me  authority  and  meaning! 
that  is,  I  must  hfjir  (ifxl  only  when  Ik;  uses  the  lips 
of  holy  mother — hps  which  liavc,  l)list(;ro(l  imdcr  the 
curses  wliich  she  lias  been  pronouncing  against  me  for 


'254  K  I  R  W  A  N  ' ! 


HE  IM- V 


Holy  mother  in  her  bloom.  How  know  ?  Sharp  corner. 

ages  I  Holy  mother,  sir,  in  the  bloom  of  her  youth, 
and  in  the  maturity  of  her  years,  "  lived  deliciously, 
and  courted  kings  to  her  coueh."  But  hers  has  been 
a  dissolute  life.  She  has  made  the  earth  drunk  with 
the  wme  of  her  fornication  ;  and,  although  in  her  wrin- 
kles and  dotage,  you  now  tell  me  that  I  can  hear  God 
only  through  her,  and  that  I  must  bow  my  ear  to  the 
stream  of  her  fetid  breath,  and  at  the  risk  of  all  your 
curses  learn  God's  will  only  as  she  expounds  it !  If 
such  a  claim,  calmly  put  forth,  is  not  a  proof  of  dotage, 
what  can  be  ?     Bishop  Hughes,  how  old  are  you  ? 

But  why  bind  me  to  receive  the  Scriptures  only  in 
the  sense  which  your  Church  gives  them?  How  can 
I  know  that  she  gives  them  a  correct  sense  ?  or  must 
I  take  this  for  granted  ?  The  popes  are  admitted  to 
be  infallible ;  so  are  the  bishops,  and  so  are  general 
councils.  Pope  has  contradicted  pope,  bishop  bishop, 
and  council  council.  How,  then,  can  I  confide  in  their 
interpretation  of  Scripture  ?  How  can  I  be  infallibly 
assured  that  any  other  man  or  body  of  men  is  infalli- 
bly qualified  to  guide  me  into  the  meaning  of  the  Scrip- 
tures ?  If  I,  Kirwan,  reject  my  own  prayerfully  re- 
ceived sense  of  Scripture  for  yours,  John  Hughes,  then 
are  not  you  above  the  Scriptures  to  me  ?  And  do  not 
I  virtually  reject  what  God  says  for  what  you  say,  who 
can  now  and  then  turn  a  sharp  corner,  and  leave  the 
truth  behind  you  ?  And  if  this  is  not  infidelity,  what 
is  it? 

But  to  this  you  reply  that  I  must  not  look  to  your 
interpretation,  but,  as  says  the  creed  of  Pius  IV.,  to 
"  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  fathers."     But  here 


TO     BISHOP     II  U  G  II  K  S.  255 

Who  are  the  futhers  ?  Wrote  but  little.  Preposterous. 

again  the  "  private  reasoner"  has  some  important  ques- 
tions to  ask.  Who  are  the  fathers  ?  Where  or  with 
whom  do  they  be£;in  or  end  ?  This  is  an  unsettled 
question.  AYere  they  not  uninspired  men  and  fallible  ? 
This  is  admitted.  Origen,  among  other  errors,  taught 
Universalism  ;  Augustine  retracted  his  errors ;  Tertul- 
lian  was  a  Montanist ;  and  can  fallible  men  make  an 
infallible  rule  ? 

Besides,  the  early  fathers  wrote  but  little  in  the 
way  of  scriptural  interpretation.  If  any  thing,  we 
have  scarcely  any  thing  from  the  fathers  before  the 
middle  of  the  second  century ;  and  but  httle,  save 
fragments,  of  the  first  three  centuries,  and  these  cor- 
rupted; and  what  we  have  from  those  early  times 
serves  no  purpose  in  settling  the  points  in  controversy. 
They  dilfered  widely  among  themselves :  some  of  them 
condemn  your  Apocrypha — some  of  them  your  absurd 
doctrine  of  transubstantiation ;  and  yet,  while  these 
fathers  were  fallible,  and  diflered  among  themselves ; 
while  they  pointedly  condemn  in  some  things  the  teach- 
ings of  your  Church,  and  wrote  but  little  in  the  way 
of  .scriptural  interpretation,  yet  wc  must  receive  the 
Scriptures  "  according  to  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
fathers  1"  Ls  not  this  preposterous  ?  Have  you  not 
excommunicated  your  coiniiion  scn.so  and  reason? 

T'ut,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  lotus  admit  ihnt 
thf'.se  erring  and  conlending  fathers  were  unanimous 
in  their  support  of  the  di^tingui.shing  docirim-s  of  your 
ChureJi.  Wiiat,  then,  does  this  avail  ?  If  unanimous 
in  leaching  what  the  Scriptures  do  not,  their  teaching 
can   not    bo   received;   if  in  what  the  Scriptin-es  do 


256  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     REPLY 

Unity  no  proof  of  truth.  The  blind.  From  one  to  the  other. 

teach,  we  receive  that  without  them.  Nor  is  unity 
any  evidence  of  truth  in  itself.  Men  in  multitudes 
have  been  united  for  ages  in  supporting  a  lie ;  and 
union  is  in  the  inverse  ratio  of  knowledge.  The  more 
perfect  the  ignorance,  other  things  being  equal,  the 
more  perfect  the  union.  When  the  blind  lead  the 
blind,  they  cling  very  close  together.  Individuals  in 
full  vision  often  select  different  roads  to  the  same 
place,  but  the  blind  crowd  along  the  same  road,  and 
cling  to  one  another  like  swarming  bees,  even  on  the 
brink  of  the  precipice.  Hence  the  proverb,  "  If  the 
blind  lead  the  blind,  both  will  fall  into  the  ditch  ;"  and 
if  the  successors  of  Moses,  who  sat  in  his  seat,  and 
boasted  that  they  were  his  ecclesiastical  descendants, 
were  blind  leaders  of  the  blind,  may  it  not  be  possible 
that  the  same  may  be  the  case  as  to  the  descendants 
of  Peter  ?  Your  letters,  now  before  me,  give  the  plain- 
est evidence  that  the  eyes  of  your  mind  stand  in  great 
need  of  couching.  0  that  you  might  apply  to  them 
the  eye-salve  spoken  of  in  Revelation  ! 

But,  you  reply,  this  is  forbidden  by  the  fact  that 
your  bishops  are  the  descendants  of  Peter,  and  that 
they  have  the  promise  of  divine  guidance.  But  they 
are  no  more  the  descendants  of  Peter  than  were  the 
Jewish  priests  the  descendants  of  Moses  and  Aaron ; 
so  that,  reasoning  from  the  one  to  the  other,  this  plea 
avails  nothing.  "  "We  be  Abraham's  seed,"  said  the 
Jews.  "  If  ye  were  Abraham's  children,  ye  would  do 
his  works,"  rephed  the  Savior.  "We  be  Moses'  dis- 
ciples," cried  the  Pharisees.  "  Had  ye  believed  Moses, 
ye  would  have  believed  me,"  says  Christ.     And  it  is 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  257 

Apostolic  succession.  Joe  Smith.  Quite  a  pope. 

surprising  that  a  man  like  you,  professing  to  be  a  mas- 
ter in  Israel  and  a  chief  pastor  in  the  Church  of  God, 
could  for  a  moment  lose  sight  of  the  palpable  truth 
that  the  true  evidence  of  apostolical  succession  is  apos- 
tolical faith  and  practice.  In  your  fourth  letter  (par- 
agraph No.  41)  you  speak  of  Joanna  Southcote,  Joe 
Smith,  and  Father  Sliller  with  a  sneer ;  but,  sir,  the 
most  absurd  absurdity  of  Joe  Smith  is  clever  sense 
when  compared  with  your  principle  of  making  fallible 
men  infallible  expounders  of  G-od's  revealed  will,  and 
sending  all  to  perdition  who  do  not  receive  their  unan- 
imous consent  as  its  true  meaning,  when  no  such  con- 
sent was  ever  given  or  can  be  found  !  Sir,  Joe  Smith 
was  much  more  of  a  Pope  than  you  imagine.  He 
damned,  as  unblushingly  as  you  or  holy  mother,  all 
that  did  not  deem  him  and  his  cardinals  infallible,  and 
who  rejected  his  ]\[ormon  tradition  ;  and  if,  as  a  "  pri- 
vate reasoner,"  I  were  compelled  to  select  Joe  Smith 
or  John  Hughes  as  my  chief  rabbi,  notwithstanding 
"  the  sympathies  of  my  Irisli  nature,"  I  would  not  long 
hesitate  between  them.  I  have  no  great  relish  fur  th(! 
nonsense  of  cither  of  you,  but  I  cuukl  swallow  his  with 
far  less  difhculty  and  grimace  than  I  could  yours,  and 
I  would  sooner  get  through  ihr,  hard  j)rocess.  My 
throat  would  not  have  to  be  stretched,  almost  to  the 
cracking  of  its  skin,  every  day  of  my  life,  for  the  jtiir- 
pose  of  taking  down  some  monstrous  absurdity. 

But  you  plfad  the  need  of  receiving  the  Scriptures 
in  tho  sense  given  them  by  your  Chnrcli,  In  save  the 
Church  and  the  world  from  the  divisions  and  schisms 
which  arc  the  necessary  result  of  private  interjireta- 


258  K  I  R  AV  A  N  '  S     K  i;  !•  I,  V 

Friction.  Diversity.  Stagnant  sea. 

tion.  It  is  to  be  regretted,  on  the  whole,  that  those 
who  rejeet  Chureh  interpretation  are  so  much  divided 
among  themselves.  But  it  is  difficult  to  form  any  ma- 
chinery, however  perfect,  without  some  friction.  Like 
all  other  good  things,  the  right  of  private  judgment  has 
Ijcen  abused.  But  what,  sir,  has  been  so  awfully 
abused  as  the  doctrines  of  Church  interpretation,  and 
sacramental  grace,  and  of  Purgatory — prime  doctrines 
of  holy  mother?  Diversity  of  opinion  is  necessari- 
ly connected  with  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  private 
judgment,  as  Grod  has  no  more  made  minds  to  think 
alike  than  he  has  made  faces  to  look  alike,  or  temper- 
aments to  act  alike.  God  and  nature  abhor  dead  lev- 
els. Uniformity  with  diversity  seems  to  be  the  great 
law  of  Jehovah ;  and  whether  to  surrender  our  right 
of  private  judgment  in  religious  things  for  the  sake  of 
a  level  uniformity,  or  to  retain  it  with  the  variety  of 
opinions  which  may  spring  from  it,  is  the  question 
which  here  divides  the  papist  from  the  Protestant.  To 
my  mind,  it  is  like  the  question  whether  we  shall  have 
a  free,  open  sea,  with  its  ceaseless  sounding,  its  ever- 
heaving  bosom,  and  its  billows  occasionally  rolled  to 
the  sky  by  the  tempest,  or  a  sea  bound  in  fetters,  with 
an  unruffled  bosom,  stagnating  by  day  and  by  night, 
and  sending  over  earth  and  air  its  putrid  exhalations. 
"Wliilc  I  deplore  the  divisions  among  Protestants,  and 
feel  that  they  are  unnecessary,  evincing  less  forbear- 
ance than  passion,  yet,  sir,  does  holy  mother  exclude 
them  from  her  pale  by  her  stringent  rule  of  Church  in- 
terpretation ?  Has  she  had  no  schisms  in  her  bo.som  ? 
ArrKjng  her  numerous  progeny,  have  there  been  no 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  259 

Fanaticism  fostered.  Beata.  Sister  Nativite. 

Mother  Ann  Lees,  no  Joe  Smiths,  no  Father  Millers  ? 
Perhaps,  sir,  you  forget  that  the  fathers  of  Protestant- 
ism have  contended,  in  every  age,  Avith  all  forms  of 
fanaticism,  and  have  used  all  weapons  against  them 
save  those  potent  ones  of  your  Church,  fire  and  fagot. 
Has  your  Church  done  so  ?  Has  not  your  priesthood, 
in  every  age,  fostered  fanaticism  and  absurdity  ?  Li- 
berius  patronized  Arianism,  a  branch  of  Socinianism. 
Montanus,  more  than  a  rival  for  Swedenborg,  was  pat- 
ronized by  his  contemporary  pope.  And  the  fanaticism 
of  Mother  Lee  and  of  Joanna  go  out,  as  do  the  stars 
amid  the  clTulgcnce  of  the  sun,  when  compared  with 
the  fanaticism  of  Beata  of  Cuenza,  who,  teaching  that 
her  body  was  transubstantiated  into  our  Lord's  body, 
was  conducted  with  processions  to  the  churches,  where 
she  was  adored  as  you  now  adore  the  Host ;  or  with  that 
of  Clara  of  Madrid,  who  claimed,  and  was  allowed,  to 
be  a  prophetess  ;  or  of  sister  Nativite,  who  saw  on  one 
occasion  in  the  hands  of  the  officiating  priest,  at  the 
consecration  of  the  wafer,  a  little  child,  living,  and 
clothed  with  light.  The  child,  eager  to  be.eatcn,  spoke 
with  an  infantile  voice,  and  desired  to  be  swallowed! 
And  you,  sir,  a  bishop  in  a  chm-ch  whose  history  is 
crowded  with  the  feats  of  such  fanatics,  and  whose 
bishops  and  popes  have  been  their  patrons,  will  quote 
against  Protestants  the  examples  of  a  few  fanatics  that 
we  have  ever  opposed,  to  prove  to  us  the  mischief  of 
interpreting  the  Bible  for  ourselves  !  Bishop  Hughes ! 
Bishop  Hughes  1 1  ()  Bi.shop  HugliesII!  how  sorry  I 
am  for  you  I 

Nor  is  this  all.      ^  "H  (hvfll  uj)fin  our  divisions  and 


260  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     REPLY 

Feuds.  Western  schism.  Holy  mother  rent. 

schisms  as  proof  to  demonstration  against  our  private 
interpretation,  forgetting  that  if  it  is  strong  against 
us,  it  is  equally  strong  against  Church  interpretation. 
Have  you  never  read  of,  or  have  you  conveniently  for- 
gotten, the  Western  schism  which  rent  the  bosom  of 
holy  mother  ?  Have  you  forgotten  the  feuds  between 
the  Jansenists  and  the  Jesuits,  and  those  caused  by 
the  Augustines  and  the  Dominicans  ?  Have  you  never 
read  of  the  Scotists  and  Thorn  ists — of  the  war  about 
the  immaculate  conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary  between 
the  Franciscans  and  Dominicans — of  the  feud  between 
the  Franciscans  and  Pope  John  ?  Through  every  centu- 
ry of  her  existence  the  bosom  of  holy  mother  has  been 
rent  by  internal  feuds  such  as  have  never  cursed  the 
Protestant  world.  At  this  very  hour  her  bosom  is  like 
the  bowels  of  iEtna  when  on  the  eve  of  an  eruption. 
It  is  said  your  memory  at  times  is  quite  slippery ! 

Sir,  it  would  have  been  well  for  you  had  you  made 
yourself  better  acquainted  with  the  annals  of  popery 
and  Protestantism,  to  use  your  own  classical  and  dig- 
nified language,  "  before  you  had  launched  your  shal- 
low bark  on  the  ocean  of  ecclesiastical  history." 

I  will  recur  again  to  this  subject  in  my  next. 

Yours,  ice,  KiuwAN. 


TO     BISHOP     H  L  (i  H  E  S.  261 

Taking  argument.  Doctrine,  discipline,  morals. 


LETTER    IV. 

Examination    of  Church    Interpretation    continued. — Its   destructive 
Consequences. — It  is  a  monstrous  Assumption. 

My  dkar  Sir, — At  the  close  of  my  last  letter  I  was 
considering  your  argument  for  Church  interpretation 
drawn  from  the  divisions  and  schisms  which  prevail 
among  Protestants.  Although  I  have  shown  that  the 
argument  against  private  is  equally  strong  against 
Church  interpretation,  I  have  a  few  things  more  to  say 
in  reference  to  it.  As  it  is  your  taking  argument 
with  weak  minds,  it  requires  more  attention  than  its 
merits  deserve.  Like  almost  all  taking  arguments,  it 
is  a  weak  one, 

I  have  already  shown  how  grievously,  in  every  age, 
your  Church  has  been  rent  by  schism  and  disgraced 
by  fanaticism.  I  would  now  ask,  Why  the  distinction 
you  set  up  between  doctrine^  and  discipline  and  mor- 
ale, ?  The  Church  is  infallible  in  doctrine,  but  not 
in  di.sciplinc  or  morals  I  And  when  wo  compare  the 
things  in  which  slie  is  infallibli'-  with  those  in  which 
.she  is  not,  the  latter  far  outnumber  tlu;  former.  Now 
why  tho  distinction?  The  few  things  in  which  you 
agree  are  called  doctrine,  and  tho  many  in  which  you 
do  not  agree  arc  called  discipline  and  morals  I  So 
that  the  distinction  is  made  to  excuse  tho  infinite  di- 
versity of  opinion  that  exists  among  you,  and  also  to 
excuse  the  .shocking  enormities  committed  by  your 


262  K  I  U  \V  A  N  '  S     K  E  P  L  Y 

Curses  llie  same.  rrolcstunt  unity  greater  than  papal. 

Church  as  mere  matters  of  disciphno  and  morals ! 
and  yet,  singular  to  state,  your  Church  pronounces 
equally  heavy  curses  against  those  who  reject  her  dis- 
cipline and  morals,  on  which  she  has  made  no  infalli- 
ble decision,  as  against  those  who  reject  her  doctrines, 
on  which  she  has  ! 

Now,  sir,  if  the  above  distinction  between  doctrines, 
and  discipline  and  morals,  is  a  true  one,  which  I  ut- 
terly deny — if  a  people  may  be  considered  a  unity 
who  unite  in  a  few  radical  doctrines,  however  they 
may  disagree  on  things  pertaining  to  discipline  and 
morals — I  am  prepared  to  show  that  the  unity  of  the 
Protestant  world  far,  very  far,  surpasses  that  of  the 
papal.  The  things  in  which  we  agree  are  more  nu- 
merous and  more  important  than  are  your  infallible 
doctrines,  and  the  things  in  which  we  disagree  are  less 
numerous  and  less  important  than  are  your  matters 
of  diseiphne  and  morals  ;  and  yet  you  come  near  wax- 
ing eloquent  and  becoming  interesting  on  our  diversity 
when  contrasted  with  your  unity  !  But  I  suppose  we 
must  excuse  you,  on  the  ground  that  you  are  writing 
for  Roman  Catholics,  who,  poor  creatures !  are  excluded 
from  the  ranks  of  "  private"  or  "  public  reasoners." 
IN'othing  saves  this  argument  from  derision  but  my  un- 
willingness to  offend  against  decorum. 

"  The  Church  gives  authority  and  meaning  to  the 
^scriptures,  and  we  must  receive  them  as  the  Church 
interprets  them."  The  Scriptures,  the  Apocrypha,  the 
unanimous  consent  of  the  fathers,  the  sacred  canons, 
the  decisions  of  councils,  and  oral  traditions,  form  your 
rule  of  faith  ;  and  as  these,  like  the  Bible,  which  you 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  263 

IiifaUible  interpreter.  Its  effect.  Assumption. 

seem  as  much  disposed  to  ridicule  as  to  eulogize,  are 
made  up  of  paper,  types,  and  ink,  and  are  silent  when 
you  ask  them  any  questions,  they  need  a  living  inter- 
preter ;  and  to  avail,  he  or  she  must  he  infallihle. 
This  living,  infallible  interpreter  is  your  Church — that 
is,  as  I  have  already  shown,  the  Church  is  the  rule  of 
the  Church.  To  liira  who  is  infallible,  all  faith  and 
practice  are  equally  true.  The  truth  of  principles 
changes  as  he  changes.  Infallibility  prevents  the  cor- 
rection of  error — makes  principles,  however  opposite, 
equally  true — obliges  the  infallible  one,  when  he  goes 
wrong,  to  defend  the  wrong,  and  to  stay  wrong  forever. 
Thus,  as  your  Church  has  been  on  all  sides  of  almost 
all  questions,  because  infallible,  she  makes  the  opposite 
sides  equally  true,  and  thus  lays  the  axe  at  the  root  of 
all  true  principles  and  of  all  true  morals.  And  the 
facts  in  the  case  prove  the  truth  of  my  inference. 
What  truer  sons  of  your  Church  has  the  earth  ever 
borne  than  the  Jesuits  ?  and  what  class  of  men  have 
so  undermined  tlie  foundations  of  all  true  principles 
and  morals  ?  Have  you  read  Pascal's  Letters  ?  So 
that  it  may  bo  laid  down  as  a  principle  c([nally  true 
of  men  and  f)f  nations,  the  iiifirc!  entirely  paj)al,  the 
more  entire  the  absence  of  sound  principles  and  sdiiiid 
morals.  The  ma.ximuin  of  the  one  is  always  in  con- 
nection witb  the  minimum  of  the  other. 

I  think,  sir,  tiiat  if  you  d(»  nnj,  all  '•  private  reason- 
ers"  will  agree  that  1  have  shown  your  jirinciple,  that 
"the  liihlc  has  no  authority  b»jt  wliat  your  Church 
gives  it,  and  that  we  must  receive  it  as  your  Church 
interprets  it,"  as  thf  merest  assumptif)M.     It  is  a  jiriii- 


264  K  1  IMV  A  N  '  S     REPLY 

Catholicon.  Death  of  Christ.  Effects  of  the  principle. 

ciple  unworthy  of  you  as  a  man — more  unworthy  of 
you  as  a  minister  of  the  God  of  truth,  and  deserving 
only  the  scornful  rejection  of  all  intelligent  and  think- 
ing men.  But  as  the  destinies  of  this  ruined  world 
and  of  the  true  Church  of  God  are  bound  up  in  the 
principle,  let  us  look  at  its  effects  when  carried  out. 

"  The  interpretation  of  the  Church :"  this  is  your 
great  principle,  and  your  catholicon  for  all  divisions 
and  heresies.  The  Jewish  Church  was  infallible,  as 
your  chief  writers  assert,  and  the  Jewish  people  were 
bound  to  receive  the  Scriptures  as  interpreted  by  those 
who  sat  in  Moses'  seat ;  and  yet  this  infallible  Church, 
by  its  infallible  teachers,  put  to  death  the  Lord  of 
glory.  Jesus  Christ,  then,  fell  a  victim  to  the  very 
principle  which  you  assert — the  principle  of  Church 
interpretation;  and  how  many  of  the  most  devoted 
followers  of  Jesus  Christ  have  fallen  victims  to  the 
same  principle,  we  are  not  to  know  until  the  day  of 
final  revealing. 

Church  interpretation  is  exclusive  of  private  judg- 
ment. If  true,  it  would  have  forever  prevented  the 
erection  of  the  Christian  Church.  It  would  have 
bound  all  Jews  to  remain  Jews  forever,  and  all  other 
men  to  become  Jews  in  belief,  in  order  to  enter  heav- 
en. Like  your  Church,  the  Jewi.sh  made  void  the  law 
of  God  by  traditions.  Their  traditions  and  Church  in- 
terpretation of  the  Scriptures  were  all  against  Jesus 
Christ.  How,  then,  on  your  principles,  could  the  foun- 
dations of  the  Church  of  Christ  be  laid  ?  They  never 
could  be.  How  were  they  laid  ?  By  those  who  re- 
jected Church  interpretation,  and  who  for  themselves 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  265 

Conlfinptible  argument.  Trying  it. 

examined  the  Scriptures,  and  considered  the  evidences 
which  proved  to  them  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah. 
You,  sir,  as  a  minister,  owe  your  standing  in  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  rejection  of  the  very 
principle  which  you  assert,  and  with  so  much  flimsy 
sophistry  enforce,  and  to  the  adoption  of  the  principle 
of  private  interpretation,  which  in  seeking  to  vilify, 
you  only  expose  yourself  to  scorn.  Your  argument  is 
contemptible,  and  makes  you  ridiculous. 

Nor  is  this  all.  If  we  carry  out  your  principles, 
how  can  you  expect  us  to  return  to  your  Church? 
Let  me  make  the  case  my  own,  to  give  point  and  di- 
rectness to  what  I  say.  1  am  an  unbeliever,  but  sin- 
cerely inquiring  after  the  true  Church,  and  I  go  to 
your  residence  to  have  my  inquiries  answered.  You 
state  to  me  the  marks  of  the  true  Church,  beginning 
with  that  of  unilij^  and  quote  some  Scripture  in  con- 
firmation. But  what  must  I  do?  for  I  am  forbidden 
the  exerci.se  of  my  private  judgment.  If  I  say  the 
mark  i.s  a  true  one,  and  is  based  on  Scripture,  that  is 
a  private  judgment  which  I  have  no  right  to  exercise  ; 
if  I  deny  it  and  the  relevancy  of  the  texts  quoted,  it  is 
again  a  rejection  of  yotir  principle.  You  pass  on  io 
the  next  mark,  sanclilij,  and  dwell  upon  your  holiness 
of  doctrine.  To  be  satisfied  of  this  being  a  true  mark, 
I  must  com))arc.  your  doctrin(^s  with  tho.sc  of  the  Scrip- 
tures; if  I  cftMie  to  the  conclusion  the  mark  is  a  Irue 
one,  I  rcjrct  ytnir  rule  ;  if  to  ilic,  npj)osite  conclusion,  I 
yet  reject  it.  Our  conversation  ends,  and  I  retire  ei- 
ther iriiprrssed  by  your  argiunents  or  bewildered  by 
your  sophistry.    Jn  a  few  days  I  rcf  urn,  saving,  "  Wfll, 

M 


266  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     REPLY 

Would  you  roci-ivc  inc  ?  Suicidal  argument. 

Bishop  Hughes,  I  have  deeply  considered  your  state- 
ments, and  I  have  concluded  that  they  are  true,  and 
that  yours  is  the  true  Church,  and  I  wish  to  connect 
myself  with  it."  Would  you  receive  me  ?  Gladly  ; 
and  yet,  by  receiving  me,  you  deny  the  truth  of  your 
own  rule,  and  admit  that  a  man,  on  his  private  judg- 
ment, can  "  make  an  act  of  faith."  If  converts  can 
not  be  made  in  this  way  to  popery,  how  can  they  be  ? 
If  made  in  this  way,  where  is  the  force  or  the  truth  of 
your  denunciations  of  private  judgment  ?  If  men  have 
no  right  to  read  or  to  judge  of  the  h^criptures  for  them- 
selves— no  right  to  form  an  opinion  as  to  the  clashing 
claims  for  the  true  Church,  why  the  series  of  letters 
before  me,  in  which  bold  assertion,  a  little  truth,  much 
sophistry,  perverted  texts  of  Scripture,  and  no  little 
arrogance,  are  mixed  and  mingled  together,  to  prove 
that  yours  is  the  true  Church,  and  to  induce  all  to  flee 
to  her  fold  who  wish  to  escape  perdition  ?  Sir,  your 
doctrine  is  a  suicidal  one ;  your  Church  can  not  live 
with  it,  nor  can  it  live  without  it.  It  is  gotten  up  for 
babes  in  intellect,  and  not  for  men. 

But  let  us  admit  the  full  truth  of  the  doctrine,  and 
that  it  is  binding  on  every  mortal :  what  follows  ?  I 
must  give  up  my  Bible  and  lock  up  my  private  judg- 
ment. Wishing  to  know  what  meaning  the  Church 
gives  John,  v.,  89,  I  apply  to  my  neighboring  priest ; 
but  he  has  not  read  the  fathers,  nor  the  canon  law,  nor 
the  decrees  of  councils,  nor  the  bulls  of  the  Pope,  nor 
the  Scriptures.  He  applies  to  you,  his  bishop ;  nor 
have  you  read  them.  You  apply  to  the  archbishop ; 
nor  has  he  read  them.     He  applies  to  the  cardinals; 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  267 

Who  knows  Ihe  rule  of  faith  '  Roundabout.  Empty  heads. 

nor  have  they  read  them.  They  apply  to  the  Pope ; 
nor  has  he  read  them.  I  here  venture  the  assertion 
that  there  is  not  a  Uving  man  who  has  read  your  rule 
of  faith.  How  can  I  know,  then,  what  the  Church 
teaches?  Even  if  her  teachings  were  harmonious, 
there  is  no  knowing.  But,  for  the  argument,  I  grant 
that  the  Pope  and  his  cardinals,  who  virtually  compose 
•'  holy  mother,"  do  know  the  rule.  They  tell  the  arch- 
bishop, he  tells  you,  you  tell  the  priest,  and  the  priest 
tells  me ;  and,  however  my  common  sense  revolts 
against  it,  I  must  receive  it  as  a  good  son  of  the 
Church ! 

See,  then,  the  position  to  which  your  doctrine  re- 
duces every  thinking  and  thoughtless  man.  It  brings 
us  all  on  our  knees  before  your  priests,  multitudes  of 
whom  are  as  unprincipled  and  wicked  as  they  are  ig- 
norant ;  deprives  us  of  the  right  of  private  judgment, 
and  compels  us  to  throw  away  our  brains,  and  to  bow 
reverently  our  empty  heads  before  your  priests,  and  to 
receive  piously  whatever  nonsense  they  may  see  fit  to 
ladle  into  them. 

These,  sir,  are  the  considerations  which  prove  the 
principle  I  have  been  considering  not  only  a  mere,  but 
a  mon.strou.s  as.sumption  ;  a  principle  which,  whether 
true  itr  untrue,  is  equally  fatal  to  the  claims  of  your 
Churoh.  I  (l('('j)ly  regret  that  any  clever  .son  of  okl 
Ireland,  after  breathing  so  long  the  air  of  freedom, 
.should  Irnd  himself  to  the  support  of  .such  a  monstrou.s 
prineij)le.  And  the  logical  power  which  you  display  in 
its  .support  gives  you  higli  claims  to  the  chair  of  logic 
in  the  university  of  HeliopolisI 


268  K  1  K  W  A  N  '  S     U  K  P  1.  Y 

Turning  lo  tlic  Uiblo.  Tliat  the  lamp. 

How  pleasant  it  is  to  turn  from  such  a  rule  to  the 
simple  and  pure  word  of  God,  given  to  be  a  lamp  to 
our  feet  and  a  light  to  our  paths.  If  with  that  lamp 
we  wander  from  the  way,  the  fault  is  in  ourselves. 
It  is  not  because  of  the  obscurity  with  which  God  has 
revealed  his  will,  but  because  our  foolish  minds  are 
darkened  by  reason  of  sin.  But  I  must  not  forget  that 
my  only  object  is  to  show  the  utter  fallacy  of  your 
principles.  Yours,  Kirwan. 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  269 


Church  theory. 


LETTER    V. 

The  Papal  Church  Theory. — A  Mistake  in  selecting  Peter  for  the  Ti- 
ara.— The  Prayer  of  Christ  for  Peter  realized  for  him  and  all  his 
Successors. — The  question,  Was  Peter  Popel  examined. 

My  dear  Sir, — In  my  last  letter  I  concluded  my 
analysis  of  the  principle  you  assert,  that  the  Bible  has 
no  authority  save  what  your  Church  gives  it,  and  that 
it  must  be  understood  and  received  as  your  Church  in- 
terprets it.  A  principle  more  untrue,  more  absurd, 
more  suicidal,  has  never  been  asserted.  It  can  not  be 
more  absurd,  but  it  is  infinitely  more  dangerous  than 
your  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  Although  the  ref- 
utation of  that  principle  saps  the  foundation  of  all  that 
you  have  written,  yet  there  are  other  principles  mixed 
up  with  your  postulates  that  require  notice.  Among 
these  is  the  principle  involved  in  your  theory  of  the 
Church.  As  the  paragraph  which  you  marlc  5  con- 
tain.s  the  great  outline  of  your  Church  theory,  1  will 
here  ([uote  it  entire. 

"  5.  But  twelve  apostles,  invested  with  equal  au- 
thority, might  disturb  the  order  and  defeat  the  object 
which  their  Lord  had  a])pointed  them  to  establish  and 
secure.  Ilia  kingdom  was  to  bo  one,  united  in  itself; 
Ilis  sliccp  were  tfj  bo  comprised  in  Urne  fold,''  under 
^  otie  shrphrrd,''  and  not  umb-r  ticelve.  Accordingly, 
out  of  the  twelve,  being  all  apostles,  and,  as  such,  equal 


270  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     REPLY 

Peter  selected.  The  chain.  Often  confuted. 

in  dignity  and  authority,  He  selected  one,  Peter ;  and, 
in  addition  to  the  apostleship,  which  he  enjoyed  hke 
the  others,  conferred  on  him  special,  singular,  and  in- 
dividual prerogative  and  power,  which  had  not  been 
conferred  on  the  other  eleven,  either  singularly  or  col- 
lectively ;  and,  as  our  Lord  had  said  many  things  to 
the  multitude  at  large,  and  some  things  to  the  apostles 
alone,  so,  also,  He  addressed  many  instructions  to  the 
apostles  as  such,  including  Peter,  and  sovie  things  to 
Peter  alone,  in  which  the  others  had  no  direct  lot  or 
part.  Satan,  he  said,  desired  them  (all),  that  he  might 
sift  them  as  wheat ;  but  He  prayed  for  Peter,  that  his 
faith  might  not  fail ;  and  that  he,  being  once  convert- 
ed, should  confirm  his  brethren.  The  efficacy  of  this 
prayer  of  the  man-G-od  has  been  realized  in  His  Church 
■from  the  days  of  Cephas  himself,  through  the  whole 
line  of  his  successors,  down  to  the  exercise  of  the  chief 
apostleship,  in  our  own  times,  by  the  great  and  illustri- 
ous Pius  IX." 

The  great  papal  idea  here  asserted  is  the  placing  of 
Peter  over  the  other  apostles  as  their  superior,  and  as 
the  "  Yicar  of  Christ,"  and  as  the  head  of  the  Church, 
and  the  perpetuation  of  this  office  in  his  successors 
down  to  the  present  day.  Do  you  not  know,  sir,  that 
these  claims  set  up  in  behalf  of  Peter  have  been  proven, 
very  many  times,  to  be  without  the  shadow  of  a  found- 
ation ?  And  yet  you  assert  them  as  confidently  as  if 
they  had  never  been  questioned,  and  quote  Scripture 
to  prove  them,  just  as  if  we  had  a  right  to  form  any 
opinion  adverse  to  yours  on  the  subject !  Before  at- 
tempting to  show,  what  has  been  so  often  shown  be- 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES. 


271 


Peter  a  poor  selection.  Why  not  John  ?  Put  him  up. 

fore,  that  poor  Peter  was  never  made  pope,  there  are 
one  or  two  ideas  I  wish  to  suggest  just  here. 

Do  you  not  think  that  your  Church  made  a  mistake 
in  selecting  Peter  for  the  tiara  ?  Would  you  not  have 
succeeded  better  with  some  of  the  other  apostles — one 
of  the  "sons  of  thunder,"  for  instance  ?  xVnd  how  pa- 
pal would  be  the  idea — a  son  of  thunder  "  thundering 
from  the  Vatican  I"  AVould  you  not  have  succeeded 
with  John  better  than  with  Peter?  You  could  have 
urged  in  his  behalf  that  he  was  the  beloved  disciple — 
that  he  was  often  in  the  bosom  of  his  Lord — that  Pe- 
ter, on  a  certain  occasion,  sent  him  to  ask  of  the  Savior 
a  question  which  ho  feared  to  ask  himself — that  he 
did  higher  service  to  the  Church  by  his  writings,  which 
form  .so  large  a  part  of  the  New  Testament — that  ho 
outran  Peter,  and  reached  first  the  sepulchre — that  he 
outlived  all  the  other  apostles  I  And  this  would  save 
you  all  questions  about  John,  the  beloved  disciple,  the 
inspired  apostle,  the  lovely  evangelist,  being  subject  to 
a  succes.sor  of  Peter  who  probably  bad  never  seen 
Chri.st,  nor  perliaps  Peter.  If  Jolui  were  your  candi- 
date, you  could  not  say  so  much  about  "  this  rock," 
nor  about  "the  keys;"  but  then  you  would  not  be 
pressed,  as  now,  abovit  "  get  thee  behind  me,  Satan" 
— about  Peter's  swearing  so,  and  denying  his  Master. 
My  opinion  in,  but  I  am  a  "  private  rea.soner,"  that  you 
would  have  succeeded  better  with  John.  I  would  ad- 
vise you  to  correct  tradition,  for  J  have  no  doubt  she 
has  erred,  and  snb.stitutc  .lolui  for  Peter.  You  will 
find  it  a  wonderful  relief. 

The  use  you  make  of  the  text  you  quote   in  the 


272  K  1  U  AV  A  N  '  S      U  K  1'  L  Y 

Singular  argument.  The  Trinity.  Singular  assertion. 

above  paragraph  strikes  mo  very  singularly.  Satan 
desired  the  apostles,  as  he  once  did  Job,  that  he  might 
sift  them  as  wheat.  Knowing  Peter  to  be  most  in 
danger  of  them  all,  he  prayed  especially  for  him  ;  and 
from  this  passage,  whose  only  object  is  to  show  that 
poor  Peter  was  more  in  danger  of  falling  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  devil  than  any  of  his  brethren,  you  de- 
duce an  argument  for  his  supremacy !  I  have  no 
doubt,  if  hard  pressed,  that,  hke  some  astute  critics  of 
former  days,  you  could  find  the  history  of  the  children 
of  Israel  in  the  Iliad  of  Homer,  and  the  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity  in  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  !  What  bounds 
can  confine  the  power  of  a  man  who  can  create  God 
out  of  a  wafer  ? 

Consider  well  the  following  sentence  in  the  above 
paragraph :  "  The  efficacy  of  this  prayer  of  the  man- 
God  has  been  realized  in  his  Church  from  the  days  of 
Cephas  himself,  through  the  whole  line  of  his  success- 
ors, .  .  .  down  to  the  great  and  illustrious  Pius  IX." 
Considering  all  things,  this  is  a  most  extraordinary  as- 
sertion. That  is,  Peter's  faith  never  failed,  nor  has  the 
faith  of  a  single  pope  from  Peter  to  Pius !  Notwith- 
standing the  prayer  of  his  Master,  Satan  sifted  Peter. 
In  the  hour  of  severe  trial  his  faith  failed.  When  ac- 
cused in  the  palace  of  Pilate  of  being  one  of  the  disci- 
ples, "  he  began  to  curse  and  to  swear,  saying,  I  know 
not  the  man ;"  and  is  it  in  this  way  that  the  efficacy 
of  that  prayer  "  has  been  realized  through  the  whole 
line  of  his  successors  ?"  And  yet,  Peter,  cursing  and 
swearing,  was  an  angel  in  comparison  with  many  in 
"  the  line  of  his  successors."     I  know  not  how  you 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  273 

Was  Peter  made  Pope  ?  The  witnesses.  Tradition. 

could  make  an  assertion  more  historically  false,  and 
the  truth  of  which  your  own  writers — yes,  and  John 
Hughes  himself,  deny. 

But  the  question  returns.  Was  Peter  made  Pope  to 
exercise  supreme  authority  in  the  Church  ?  and  was 
the  power  thus  conferred  upon  him  hereditary,  to  de- 
scend to  all  his  successors  in  the  See  of  Rome  ?  This 
is  a  doctrine  or  principle  with  which  your  Church 
stands  or  falls.  The  Pope  is  the  centre  of  unity,  and 
to  be  separated  from  him,  according  to  your  showing, 
is  to  be  cast  out  among  heathens  and  publicans.  This 
principle,  involving  the  existence  of  your  Church  and 
my  salvation,  I  deny,  and  put  you  on  the  proof. 

If  called  to  prove  this  principle  in  a  court  of  justice, 
how  would  you  jiroceed  ?  AVould  you  call  upon  tradi- 
tion to  give  her  testimony  ?  But  tradition  has  been  in 
the  keeping  of  the  Pope ;  and  this  would  be  like  call- 
ing on  the  Pope  to  testify  to  his  own  supremacy,  which, 
in  view  of  the  power  and  emoluments  of  his  office,  I 
have  no  doubt  he  would  be  willing  to  do.  But  would 
hi.s  testimony  be  received  ?  Would  you  invoke  the 
aid  of  the  .Scriptures  ?  But  this  would  bo  giving  up 
one  of  your  fundamental  principles,  as  the  Scriptures 
to  u.s  have  no  sen.so  but  wliat  the  Cliurch,  which  is 
virtually  the  Pope;,  gives  tlu'm.  This  would  bo  again 
calling  on  the  i'opc  to  ti'stify  to  his  own  supremacy, 
which  couki  not  bo  admitted,  ihit  supposing  you  ad- 
mit the  common-sense  meaning  of  the.  Scriptures  to 
bear  on  the  case,  which  every  lx)dy  not  a  papist  is  will- 
ing to  do,  wliere  would  you  commence  ? 

Would  you  cite  the  very  pertinent  pas.sage  in  liuke 

M2 


274  u  1  K  w  A  N  '  s    K  i:  i'  l  y 

Not  to  the  point.  Not  a  word  about  supremacy. 

(xxii.j  24-30),  where  the  Savior  so  sharply  rebukes  his 
disciples  because  there  was  a  strife  among  them  as  to 
which  of  them  should  be  greatest?  or  that  of  Mark 
(ix.,  34),  where,  again  reproving  them  for  their  conten- 
tion about  pre-eminence,  he  says,  "  If  any  man  desire 
to  be  the  first,  the  same  shall  be  last  of  all  and  servant 
of  all  ?"  Would  not  the  judge  say,  "  Bishop  Hughes, 
these  texts  are  not  to  the  point;  for  if  Peter  were 
placed  over  the  disciples,  why  contention  among  them 
for  pre-eminence  ?  "Would  not  Christ  have  settled  the 
matter  at  once,  and  say.  Contend  no  more,  I  have  made 
Peter  your  Pope  ?" 

Driven  thence,  would  you  next  cite  the  passage  in 
Ephesians  (iv.,  11),  where  Paul  enumerates  the  vari- 
ous kinds  of  teachers  which  Christ  on  his  ascension 
gave  to  the  Church,  as  apostles,  prophets,  evangelists, 
pastors,  teachers  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  and 
the  parallel  passage  in  1  Corinthians  (xii.,  28)  ?  Would 
not  the  judge  again  say,  "  Bishop  Hughes,  these  are 
not  to  the  point,  as  they  say  nothing  about  a  Pope,  nor 
a  word  about  the  supremacy  of  Peter." 

Foiled  again  here,  would  you  next  cite  the  passage  (1 
Cor.,  i.,  12)  which  informs  us  of  pastors  in  the  Church 
of  Corinth,  one  claiming  to  be  of  Paul,  another  of  Apol- 
los,  and  another  of  Peter  ?  and  then  would  you  turn  to 
the  passage  in  Galatians  (ii.,  14),  where  Paul  most 
sharply  rebukes  Peter  for  his  dissimulation  ?  Would 
not  the  judge  reply,  "  Bishop  I-Iughes,  what  do  yon 
mean  ?  If  Peter  were  Pope,  why  did  he  not  excom- 
municate the  parties  of  Paul  and  Apollos  at  Corinth, 
tho.se  early  Protectants  again.'^t  his  supremacy  ?  *  If  he 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  275 

If  Pope,  why  ?  Peter  sent.  A  little  excited. 

were  Pope,  why  for  a  moment  permit  Paul  at  Antioch 
to  dispute  his  right  to  dissemble  when  circumstances 
required  him  so  to  do  ?  These  passages,  sir,  arc  against 
you,  instead  of  proving  the  position  you  assert." 

Foiled  again,  would  you  cite  the  passage  in  Acts  (viii., 
14),  where  the  apostles  in  Jerusalem  sent  Peter  and 
John  to  Samaria  to  assist  in  carrying  on  the  good  work 
there ;  and  that  other  passage  in  the  15th  chapter  of 
Acts,  where  Jame«  declares  the  decision  of  the  council 
at  Jerusalem,  called  to  consider  some  ceremonial  ques- 
tions started  among  the  churches  of  the  Grentiles  by 
Judaizing  teachers?  The  judge  would  again  reply, 
"  These  passages  are  not  to  the  point ;  for  if  Peter 
were  Pope,  would  he  bear  to  be  sent  by  those  beneath 
him  to  Samaria  ?  "Would  he  permit  James  to  preside 
in  Jerusalem  at  that  first  council,  and  to  declare  its 
^vill — duties  which  devolved  on  him  by  right  of  office? 
These  passages,  sir,  are  sadly  against  you." 

You  now,  with  some  little  Irish  excitement  created 
by  these  repulses,  quote  the  passage  in  Matthew  (xvi., 
18, 19) :  "  Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  build 
my  church  ;  I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven."  This  you  do  with  an  air  of  assur- 
nnco,  feeling  that  you  have  trapped  the  judge  at  last. 
But  he  rf'plics,  being  at  once  a  ('hristian  and  a  sound 
lawyer,  "  Hishoj)  Hughes,  these  are  disputed  texts  as 
to  their  tnie  import;  and  the  point  that  you  wish  to 
establish,  being  one  of  transcendent  important^!,  sliould 
have  something  to  sustain  it  besides  texts  of  doubtful 
meaning.  You  so  explain  this  text  as  to  make  Peter 
the  foimdation  of  the  Church  ;  but  Peter  himself  denies 


276  iviiiWAN's   ui!;j'i,v 

The  rock  of  Peter.  Dctter  upon  Christ.  Sharp  answer. 

this  by  asserting  that  Christ  is  its  foundation  (1  Peter, 
2d  cliap.).  Paul  also  denies  it  when  he  says  that 
Christ  Jesus  is  the  only  foundation  that  has  heen  or  can 
be  laid  (1  Cor.,  iii.,  11),  and  when  he  represents  Jesus 
Christ  himself  as  the  chief  corner-stone  (Eph.,  ii.,  20). 
And  Jerome,  Chrysostom,  Origen,  Cyril,  Hilary,  Augus- 
tine, make  '  the  rock'  to  mean,  not  Peter,  but  the  faith 
or  confession  of  Peter.  And  as  to  the  gift  of  the  keys, 
that  avails  you  nothing  as  to  the  supremacy  of  Peter, 
for  they  were  given  equally  to  the  other  apostles  as  to 
him ;  and  besides,  I  do  not  see  what  could  be  gained 
by  placing  the  Church  upon  Peter,  as,  for  all  inter- 
ests concerned,  it  is  better  that  it  should  be  built  upon 
Christ." 

Thus  repulsed  on  every  hand,  I  hear  you  ask,  in  an 
excited  tone,  rather  warm  for  a  bishop,  but  quite  nat- 
ural for  your  countrymen,  "  If  these  evidences  are  re- 
jected, what  will  your  Honor  admit  as  bearing  upon 
the  point  ?"  With  the  calmness  becoming  a  judge,  he 
replies,  "  Bishop  Hughes,  I  want  proof  beyond  ques- 
tion that  Jesus  Christ  made  Peter  Pope.  I  want  clear 
proof  of  the  fact  that  he  ever  exercised  the  power  of 
the  Pope  in  any  one  case.  I  want  proof  that  ever  one 
of  the  apostles  or  any  other  contemporary  ever  referred 
to  him,  or  applied  to  him  as  Pope.  And  as  your  ob- 
ject is  to  prove  the  perpetuity  of  the  popedom,  if  you 
prove  that  Peter  was  invested  with  supremacy  over 
the  other  apostles,  I  want  you  then  to  prove  that  that 
supremacy  was  not  to  end  with  his  death,  but  that  it 
was  to  be  held  in  fee  for  his  successor  forever.  When, 
.sir,  these  points  are  proved,  and  not  before,  you  may 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  277 

Have  you  proof?  Brick  without  straw.  Bad  title 

look  for  a  decision  in  your  favor.     Have  you  proof  as 
to  these  points  ?" 

Looking  upon  a  judge  \vith  disdain  who  thus  requires 
you  to  make  brick  without  straw,  and  to  prove  what 
so  many  ages  have  taken  for  granted,  you  collect  your 
papers  and  make  your  exit,  cursing  him  in  your  heart 
as  a  private  reasoner. 

Sir,  your  assertion  of  the  supremacy  of  Cephas  is 
the  merest  assumption,  and  I  think  you  must  see  it  to 
be  so.  You  would  not  claim  the  possession  of  an  acre 
of  land  in  an  Irish  bog  if  you  could  advance  no  better 
title  to  it  than  you  put  forth  for  the  supremacy  of 
Peter.     But  the  end  is  not  yet. 

Yours,  KiRWAN. 


278  K  I  K  W  A  N  '  S     K  i;  !•  1-  V 

Return  to  court.  Peter  first  pope.  Eurly  records. 


LETTER   VI. 

Was  Peter  Pope ! — Examination  continued. — But  two  Arguments  that 
can  not  be  answered. — Tillotson's  Opinion. 

My  dear  Sir, — In  my  last  letter  I  entered  upon  an 
examination  of  the  claims  of  the  Pope  to  supremacy 
without  concluding  it.  I  showed  you  that  in  the  test- 
ing of  these  claims,  the  testimony  of  tradition  was  in- 
admissible, and  that  the  teaching,  the  facts,  and  the 
tenor  of  the  New  Testament  are  directly  in  opposition 
to  them.  But  as  a  man  of  spirit,  greatly  unwilling 
that  a  mere  "  private  reasoner"  should  have  even  the 
appearance  of  victory  over  you,  you  appear  again  in 
court  to  prove,  by  other  evidence,  that  Peter  was 
clothed  by  Christ  with  supremacy,  and  that  he  was 
first  Pope  of  Rome.  The  judge  having  already  decided 
against  the  testimony  adduced  to  prove  the  first  point, 
and  having  called  for  evidence  which  you  can  not  ad- 
duce, you  address  yourself  to  the  second,  to  prove  that 
Peter  was  the  first  Pope  of  Rome.  You  state  the  point, 
and  his  honor  calls  for  the  testimony ;  and  with  an  air 
of  triumph  you  adduce  the  early  records  of  the  Church, 
from  its  foundation  to  the  fifth  century,  among  which 
are  the  books  of  the  New  Testament.  The  judge  says, 
"  Well,  Bishop  Hughes,  we  will  commence  with  these 
documents,  and  examine  them  in  their  order."  The 
proposition  is  a  fair  one,  and  you  consent. 

"  Mark,"  says  the  judge,  "was  a  friend  and  follower 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  279 

Mark  silent.  Peter's  modesty.  Paul  silent. 

of  Peter.  Ho  wrote  his  gospel  at  Rome,  about  thirty 
years  after  the  ascension  of  Christ.  Some  of  the  fa- 
thers even  say  that  it  was  revised  hy  Peter.  Does  he 
say  any  thing  about  Peter  being  Pope  of  Rome  ?"  You 
reply,  "  No  ;  Mark  is  silent  on  the  subject."  So  that 
document  is  laid  aside. 

"  Here  are  Peter's  own  letters,"  says  the  judge, 
"  written  but  a  short  time  previous  to  his  death — thirty 
years,  at  least,  after  his  alleged  investiture  with  the 
supremacy.  Do  they  say  any  thing  upon  the  subject?" 
"  No,"  you  reply  ;  "it  would  not  be  modest  in  him  to 
say  any  thing  about  the  matter."  So  these  are  laid 
aside ;  the  judge  remarking,  in  an  under  tone,  "  It 
would  have  been  well  if  the  successors  of  Peter  had 
imitated  his  modesty,  who,  after  being  nearly  forty 
years  Pope,  in  two  letters  to  the  churches  says  not  a 
word  about  his  supremacy."  Modesty,  you  know,  is 
not  an  episcopal  virtue. 

"  Next  arc  the  letters  of  Paul,"  says  the  judge, 
"written  from  Rome,  and  to  the  Romans.  Do  they 
bear  any  testimony  to  tin;  j)oint  to  be  proved?  His 
letter  to  the  Romans  was  written  several  years  after 
Peter  was  made  Pope  there.  Docs  ho  say  any  thing 
about  Pnpc!  Peter  ?  At  the  clo.sc  of  the  letter  ho  sends 
hi.s  aflectionalo  salutations  to  upward  of  twenty  per- 
sons;  docs  he  mention  Pope  Peter?  When,  accord- 
ing trj  your  showing,  Peter  was  in  the.  plenitude  of  his 
power  at  Rome,  Paul  was  taken  there  as  a  prisoner. 
While  there,  ho  wrote  .several  of  these  epistles  ;  is  Pe- 
ter alluded  to  in  them  as  Pope  ?  Is  he  named  ;ii  .ill  ? 
If  he  was  there,  Hi.'-ihop  Iluglies,  how  do  you  account 


280  K  I  U  \V  A  N  '  S      U  K  P  L  Y 

Hard  (luestious.  New  Testament  laid  aside.  • 

for  what  Paul  writes  to  Timothy  (2d  Tim.,  iv.,  IC), 
'  At  my  first  answer  ....  all  men  forsook  me  ?'  Does 
Peter  play  again,  in  the  court  of  Ciusar,  the  part  he 
played  in  the  palace  of  Pilate  ?  Could  Paul  be  a  pris- 
oner in  Rome  for  two  or  more  years,  and  Pope  Peter 
never  do  him  any  kindness  ?  Could  he  have  done  him 
any  kindness,  and  yet  Paul  never  speak  of  it  to  his 
friends  ?     How  is  all  this  ?"     Hard  questions,  these. 

Vexed  to  the  quick  by  these  questions,  for  even  bish- 
ops have  feelings,  and  plainly  perceiving  that  his  honor 
is  a  "  private  reasoner,"  you  reply,  "  We  will  lay  aside, 
if  you  please,  those  documents  which  form  the  New 
Testament,  and  pass  on  to  the  next  in  order.  They 
have  always  been  wrested  by  '  private  reasoners'  to 
their  own  destruction,  who  arc  incapable  of  '  making 
an  act  of  faith.'  "  "  But,  before  wc  lay  them  aside," 
says  the  judge,  "  do  you  admit,  bishop,  that  they  give 
no  testimony  to  the  point  before  the  court  ?"  You  give 
a  reluctant  assent.  He  again  asks,  "  How  do  you  ac- 
count for  the  fact  that  they  give  no  testimony,  consid- 
ering the  peculiar  circumstances  under  which  they 
were  written?"  You  bite  your  lips,  but  are  speech- 
less. 

After  waiting  a  few  minutes  for  a  reply,  the  judge 
says,  "  We  will  proceed  to  the  next  document ;  what 
is  it  ?  what  does  it  say  ?"  "  Here,"  you  say,  "  is  Je- 
rome, who  says  that  Peter  went  to  Rome  in  the  second 
year  of  Claudius,  and  was  bishop  there  twenty-five 
years."  "  But,"  says  the  judge,  "  Jerome  wrote  about 
the  year  400,  and  how  did  he  know?  where  did  he 
get  the  fact  ?     In  the  twelfth  year  of  Claudius,  Paul 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  281 

Jerome.  Sad  dilemma  for  Peter.  Sober  second  thoughts. 

went  to  Jerusalem,  and  found  Peter  there.  Did  he  run 
away  from  Home  ?  Do  popes  now  go  from  Rome  to 
Jerusalem  ?  Or  was  he,  like  some  hishops  in  our  day, 
who  love  the  fleece  more  than  the  flock,  a  non-resident  ? 
In  the  reign  of  Nero,  who  succeeded  Claudius,  Paul 
went  to  Rome,  and  found  the  people  there  quite  unin- 
formed as  to  the  faith  of  Christ  (Acts  xxviii.,  17-24). 
If  Peter  was  Pope  there  for  so  many  years  previous, 
what  was  he  about  ?  Besides,  the  apostles  were  min- 
isters at  large ;  their  duty  was,  not  to  abide  in  any 
city — not  to  demit  their  general  for  a  local  authority, 
hut  to  go  into  all  the  earth,  and  preach  the  Grospel  to 
every  creature.  So  that,  if  these  documents  arc  true, 
they  show  that  Peter,  at  least,  was  disobedient  to  the 
ascending  command  of  his  Lord,  by  locating  himself 
at  Rome  instead  of  laboring  to  extend  the  Gospel  to 
every  creature.  So  that,  if  these  papers  are  true,  and 
if  they  establish  the  point  you  press  so  earnestly,  they 
will  simply  prove  the  unfaithfulness  of  Peter.  If  not 
true,  your  cause  is  lest ;  if  true,  Peter  was  a  disobcdi. 
ent  apostle,  and  ought  to  bo  condemned,  instead  of  be-, 
ing  followed  and  eulogized,  for  seeking  his  own  case 
instead  of  obeying  his  Master's  command." 

As  the  judge,  seeking  only  the  truth,  places  you  in 
this  sad  dilemma,  I  sec  your  Irish  heart  swelling  with 
emotions.  Ycju  seize  your  crook  and  your  keys,  and 
glance  a  wrathful  look  at  the  "  private  reasoncr,"  .so 
unfit  to  wear  the  ermine.  Put  your  sober  second 
thoughts  return,  and  you  ask,  with  a  tone  of  smother- 
ed indignation,  "What  proof  does  your  honor  want 
that  Peter  was  bishf»p  of  Rome?      What  proof  will 


282  KIR  WAN's     REPI.y 

Tlie  testimony  needed.  Pratlling  ra])iiis.  Produce  proof. 

you  admit  that  the  popes  of  our  Church  are  his  true 
successors  ?" 

His  honor  rcpUes  calmly,  but  decidedly,  "  Bishop 
Hughes,  the  point  you  wish  to  prove  is  one  of  vital 
importance ;  it  is  the  hinge  upon  which  many  grave 
questions  turn,  which  deeply  concern  the  destinies  of 
our  race.  So  you  and  I  believe.  To  prove  it,  I  de- 
mand of  you,  not  old  wives'  fables,  but  testimony  so 
clear  and  direct  as  to  place  it  beyond  a  doubt.  As  to 
his  being  Bishop  of  Rome,  or  being  ever  at  Rome,  the 
Scriptures  are  silent ;  and  that  they  are  silent,  to  you 
must  be  very  embarrassing  ;  and  not  only  so,  but  upon 
this  vital  point  the  apostolic  men  who  conversed  with 
the  apostles  are  equally  silent  as  the  Scriptures.  Clem- 
ens, Barnabas,  Hermas,  Ignatius,  Polycarp,  say  not  a 
word  upon  the  subject.  At  about  the  close  of  the  sec- 
ond century,  Irena^us  records  it  as  a  tradition  received 
from  one  Papias,  and  is  followed  by  your  other  author- 
ities. But  who  Papias  was,  while  there  are  various 
conjectures,  nobody  knows.  And  Eusebius  speaks  of 
the  matter  as  a  doubtful  tradition.  Here,  sir,  is  the 
amount  of  your  testimony  ;  it  resolves  itself  into  the 
truth  or  falsehood  of  a  prattling  Papias,  who  told  Ire- 
nsBus  that  somebody  told  him,  who  was  told  by  some- 
body, that  Peter  was  Pope  at  Rome  I 

"  Now,  sir,  the  evidence  I  require  is,  first,  that  he 
was  ever  at  Rome  ;  and,  secondly,  that  if  there,  he  was 
Pope  of  the  universal  Church ;  and  upon  these  points 
I  will  admit  the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures,  the  apos- 
tles, or  any  competent  contemporary.  If  you  have  any 
such  te.stimony,  produce  it."    You  reply,  "  This  is  ask- 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  283 

Asking  too  much.  What  tlie  judge  wants.  Things  to  be  proved. 

ino'  too  much  of  an  infallible  Church,  whose  unwritten 
tradition  is  of  equal  authority  with  the  written  word." 
His  honor  rephes,  "  Bishop  Hughes,  it  is  asking  a  lit- 
tle too  much  to  ask  us  to  believe  without  evidence. 

"  You  ask,"  continues  the  judge,  "  what  evidence  I 
will  admit  to  prove  that  the  popes  are  the  successors 
of  Peter  ?  I  want  you  first  to  prove  that  Peter  was 
Pope  ;  if  he  was  not,  he  has  no  successors.  If  he  was 
Pope,  I  then  wish  you  to  explain  why  he  was  made 
Pope,  while  he  was  set  apart  as  the  apostle  of  the  cir- 
cumcision. You  send  him  to  the  Gentiles,  while  his 
peculiar  vocation  was  to  the  Jews.  I  wish  you  also  to 
explain,  why  make  him  Pope  of  Rome  instead  of  An- 
tioch,  where  we  know  he  labored  with  great  success, 
or  instead  of  Jerusalem,  where  the  Spirit  was  poured 
out,  and  where  he  preached  with  such  remarkable  pow- 
er ?  Is  it  not  probable  that  tradition  has  again  misled 
you  as  to  the  location  of  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  ? 

"  When  you  have  proved  and  explained  these  things, 
then  I  wish  you  to  tell  me  by  what  body  of  men  Peter 
was  made  Pope  at  Rome,  and  how  he  was  elected  ; 
for  his  successors  must  bo  so  appointed  and  elected. 
I  wi.sh  you  to  state  how  Peter  was  inauguratt^d  at 
Rome,  and  wbat  were  the  limits  of  his  authority  ;  f(n- 
.so  his  successors  must  bo  inaugurated  and  limited.  1 
wish  you  to  prove  the  duties  devolved  upon  Peter,  uml 
his  manner  of  discharging  them  ;  for  such  arc  the  du- 
ties of  his  successors,  and  .siioh  must  be  their  manner 
of  discharging  them.  I  wish  yoii  to  |)rovo  the  doc- 
trines and  morals  preached  and  practiced  by  Peter,  as 
his  successors  must  preach  and  practice  the  same  doc- 


284  K  1  K  W  A  N  '  S      II  E  P  I.  V 

iThe  popes  like  Peter.  Episcopal  indignation.  Silly  assumptions. 

trincs  and  morals.  Peter  had  a  wife :  have  your  popes  ? 
Peter  called  himself  an  elder  :  do  your  popes  ?  Peter 
iexercised  no  temporal  power  :  is  it  so  as  to  your  popes  ? 
Peter  devoted  himself  to  preaching  the  Gospel :  do  your 
popes  ?  Peter  was  a  man  of  no  parade,  though  impul- 
sive, and  never  asked  any  mortal  to  kiss  his  foot  or  his 
toe  :  is  it  so  with  your  popes  ?  Peter  was  very  poor : 
what  did  you  mean  when  you  swore  '  to  maintain  the 
royalties  of  St.  Peter  ?'  " 

Swelling  with  indignation,  you  rise,  and,  interrupt- 
ing the  judge,  you  exclaim,  "  Enough!  enough  I  I  see 
that  your  honor  is  a  '  private  reasoner,'  incapable  of 
'  making  an  act  of  faith,'  and  of  course  no  better  than 
a  heathen  or  a  publican.  You  are  unfitted  to  sit  upon 
.such  questions  or  to  decide  upon  them."  And,  collect- 
ing again  your  papers  and  trappings,  you  leave  the 
court,  muttering  in  an  under  tone  as  you  go,  that  if 
you  had  his  honor  in  Italy,  under  the  shadow  of  the 
sceptre  of  the  illustrious  Pius  IX.,  you  would  teach 
him  what  was  the  true  evidence  a  judge  should  reqiiiro 
upon  such  points. 

Thus,  sir,  in  the  form  of  a  judicial  investigation,  I 
have  examined  the  testimony  which  your  Church  ad- 
duces to  prove  that  Peter  was  clothed  by  Jesus  Christ 
with  supremacy  over  the  apostles ;  that  he  was  the 
first  Pope  of  Home,  and  that  the  popes  of  Rome  arc  his 
legitimate  successors.  There  is  not  a  particle  of  reli- 
able proof  as  to  either  of  these  positions,  while  the  evi- 
dence is  overwhelming  that  they  are  the  merest  and 
silliest  papal  assumptions.  And  yet,  upon  assumptions 
based  upon  clouds  which  disappear  before  the  light  of 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  285 

Incredible.  The  ship  of  Peter.  Poor  Simon  Magus. 

investigation,  you  base  the  very  existence  and  perpetu- 
ity of  the  Church  of  Grod  !  It  seems  incredible  that  a 
man  of  sense,  and  an  Irishman  too,  should  suspend  my 
salvation  upon  my  church  connection  with  men  called 
popes,  whose  ignorance,  and  profligacy,  and  cruelty, 
and  falsehood  have  stamped  their  name  with  infamy, 
and  tell  me  that  my  submission  to  Gfod  and  his  Son  is 
of  no  avail  unless  I  submit  to  these  men,  some  of  whom 
were  devils  in  canonicals. 

There  are  two  items  of  proof  in  favor  of  the  suprem- 
acy of  Peter  adduced  by  your  Church  to  which  I  have 
not  alluded.  I  will  state  them  to  note  my  omission, 
and  for  the  information  of  our  readers.  The  first  is 
the  passage  in  Luke  (v.,  3-10),  where  Jesus  entered 
into  the  ship  of  Peter  in  preference  to  that  of  James 
and  John,  and  taught  the  people  out  of  it.  In  the 
view  of  Milner,  it  is  a  strong  proof  of  the  supremacy 
of  Peter  1 1  The  other  is  the  story  about  Simon  Magus, 
the  magician.  By  his  juggling  miracles  he  made  many 
followers,  and  greatly  prejudiced  the  people  against  the 
Go.spol.  Ho  proclaimed  that  at  Rome  he  was  going 
to  fly  in  the  air,  and  Peter  was  there  to  oppose  him. 
Ry  the  aid  of  the  devil  he  absolutely  got  up  in  the  air, 
but  Peter  knelt  down  and  prayed  so  earnestly  that  the 
devil  fled  away,  and  left  poor  Simon  to  shift  for  him- 
self; he  f(;ll  to  the  earth  by  the  law  of  gravity,  and 
broke  both  his  legs;  and  the  impressions  of  the  apos- 
tle's knees  upon  the  stones  in  Rome  are  shown  to  this 
day  I  These  are  the  most  unanswerable  arguments 
upon  the  subject  which  T  have  seen.  1  could  get  round 
all  the  others,  but,  thcsr.  J  give  up  I 


286 


Iv  1  K  W  A  N     S     U  K  1'  1,  Y 


Testimony  ofTillolson. 


The  system  sapped. 


"  The  Pope's  supremacy,"  said  Tillotson,  "  is  not 
only  an  indefensible,  but  also  an  impudent  cause ;  there 
is  not  one  tolerable  argument  for  it,  and  there  are  a 
thousand  invincible  reasons  against  it." 

I  have  now,  sir,  sapped  two  of  your  main  principles : 
the  supremacy  of  Peter  and  his  successors,  and  that 
the  Bible  must  be  understood  and  received  as  your 
Church  interprets  it.  The  taking  away  of  these  two 
principles  brings  your  whole  superstructure  tumbling 
around  you.  Here  I  might  leave  you  striving  to  es- 
cape from  the  falling  masses,  but  "  the  sympathies  of 
my  Irish  nature"  compel  me  to  say  the  end  is  not  yet. 

Yours,  KiRWAN. 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  287 

InrallibilUy.  Bold  assertion.  The  claim. 


LETTER   VII. 

Papal  Claim  to  Infallibility  examined  and  refuted. 

My  dear  Sir, — Although  the  infallibility  of  your 
Church  is  involved  and  confuted  in  my  previous  let- 
ters, yet,  as  you  place  so  much  stress  upon  it,  and 
make  it  one  of  your  fundamental  principles,  I  have 
supposed  it  worthy  of  a  separate  and  independent  con- 
sideration. I  will  subject  it  to  examination  in  the 
present  letter. 

In  Letter  III.,  paragraph  25,  you  say,  "  The  author 
of  revelation  identified  himself  with  his  appointed  wit- 
ness, the  Church,  in  such  a  manner  that  the  authority 
of  the  one  is  essentially  implied  and  exercised  in  the 
authority  of  the  other  ;"  that  is,  the  Church  has  the 
same  authority  and  infallibility  that  Christ  had.  This 
is  a  plain  but  bold  assertion. 

In  Letter  V.,  paragraph  '04,  you  say,  "  Whether  the 
words  had  ever  been  put  on  record  or  not  (that  is, 
whether  the  Scriptures  had  ever  been  written  or  not), 
she  (the  Church)  would  have  been  equally  in  posses- 
sion of  that  j)rerogativc,  namely,  the  vicarious  author- 
ity to  teach  unf-rringly  .  .  .  until  tlui  end  of  the  world, 
the  doctrines  of  Chri.st  ....  What  is  the  meaning  of 
those  passages,  if  it  be  not  to  invest  the  official  teach- 
ers of  the  Christian  religion  with  the  necessary  portion 
of  inerrancy — in  other  words,  of  infallibility,  by  its  di- 
vine author.'' 


288  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     REPLY 

Maximum  and  minimum.  What  the  proof.'  Where  is  it ' 

But  there  is  no  need  of  calling  evidence  to  convict 
you  of  teaching  the  dogma,  tlic  infallibility  of  the 
papal  Church.  It  is  one  which  your  Church  has 
ever  boldly  and  strenuously  asserted,  but  the  maximum 
of  her  bold  and  confident  assertion  is  always  in  con- 
nection with  the  minimum  of  truth.  To  expose  the 
utter  truthlessness  of  the  claim,  a  few  considerations 
will  suffice. 

1.  How  do  you  prove  her  infallibility  ?  Tradition 
is  inadmissible,  because  that  has  been,  as  you  say,  in 
her  keeping.  It  is,  then,  either  a  bribed,  corrupted,  or 
partial  witness.  The  Scriptures,  on  your  ground,  are 
inadmissible,  because  the  Church  must  give  them 
meaning,  and  a  meaning  which  we  are  bound  to  re- 
ceive. The  Church,  you  say,  was  before  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  gives  them  credibility  and  meaning.  Where 
is,  then,  the  testimony  to  her  infallibility  ?  It  is  sim- 
ply and  only  her  own  assertion  of  it. 

2.  But  where  is  the  seat  of  her  infallibility  ?  Is  it 
in  the  Pope  ?  But  this  some  popes  deny,  as  Galasius, 
Innocent,  Eugenius,  Adrian,  and  Paul,  while  it  is  as- 
serted by  others ;  and  those  who  assert  it  differ  as  to 
its  extent.  While  some  popes  deny  their  infallibility, 
the  Jesuits  say  that  "the  Pope  is  as  unerring  as  the 
Son  of  God."  Is  this,  sir,  less  than  blasphemy,  when 
you  consider  who  some  of  your  popes  were  ? 

Is  it  in  a  general  council  ?  Such  is  the  system  of 
the  French  school,  and  of  some  popes,  and  of  some 
councils,  as  of  Constance,  Pisa,  and  Basil,  which  de- 
jiosed  some  popes  for  high  crimes.  But  in  this  the 
council  of  Lateran  contradicts  that  of  Basil. 


TO     BISHOr     HUGHES.  289 

I nfailibilily  a  vanishing  point.  Too  limited.  Short  covering. 

Is  it  in  a  general  council  headed  by  the  Pope  ?  This 
some  positively  affirm.  But  this  is  opposed  by  the  two 
former  parties,  because  denying  the  principle  of  each. 

Is  it  in  the  Church  universal,  consisting  of  pastors 
and  people  ?  So  some  assert,  and  among  them  Panor- 
mitan  and  ]\[irandula.  "  Ecclesia  universalis  non 
potest  crrare,"  says  Panormitan.  This,  however,  is  a 
small  party  opposing  all,  and  opposed  by  all  the  others. 

Now,  sir,  when  you  differ  about  the  seat  of  infalli- 
bility so  widely  and  bitterly,  what  can  you  expect  bet- 
ter from  a  "  private  reasoner"  than  that  he  should  ask 
you  the  impertinent  questions,  If  your  Church  is  infal- 
lible, why  does  she  not  determine  where  her  infallibil- 
ity is  located  ?  "What  is  her  infallibiUty  worth,  if  she 
never  knows  where  to  find  it  ? 

3.  The  infalUbiUty  of  your  Chinch  is  too  limited  in 
extent.  Because  .she  has  no  tradition  upon  them,  she 
gives  no  interpretation  to  many  portions  of  the  Scrip- 
ture, and  she  forbids  me  interpreting  them  for  myself! 
What  arc  these  portions  worth?  Might  they  not  be 
as  well  omitted  ?  She  has  no  tradition,  and  van  not 
interpret  them,  and  1  must  not  I  Here  is  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  Bible  .shut  up  from  the  world,  as  if  never 
revealed  I  and  yet  Paul  tells  me  that  "  (ill  Scrijiturc 
is  profitable."  Can  that  be  an  infallible  Church  that 
knows  nothing,  and  will  permit  me  to  know  nothing, 
about  a  large  portion  of  God's  word  ? 

Her  infallibility  covers  only  the  field  (>(  f/oc/rinc  and 
viorals,  and  extends  not  to  discipline  and  njiinions. 
Now  a  list  of  the  doctrines  find  morals  on  whit^h  she 
infallibly  decides,  and  of  the  discipline  and  opinions  on 

N 


290  KIR  WAN's     REPLY 

A  curious  pajier.  Doctrine  and  discipline.  Foley's  flsh. 

which  she  makes  no  such  decision,  and  a  narrative  of 
her  conduct  in  reference  to  them,  would  be  a  most  cu- 
rious ]mper.  Will  you  favor  the  world  with  it,  if  you 
can  ?  In  matters  of  doctrine,  in  which  your  Church 
is  infallible,  a  man  may  believe  as  he  desires,  if  he 
only  clings  to  Holy  Mother ;  but  in  matters  of  disci- 
pline and  opinion,  on  which  she  has  made  no  decision, 
if  he  acts  out  his  honest  convictions,  he  will  have  emp- 
tied on  him  the  seven  vials  of  papal  wrath.  For  in- 
stance, the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  communion  in  one 
kind,  are  matters  of  discipline  ;  and  yet  if  you,  Bishop 
Hughes,  like  Peter,  should  marry  a  wife — and  a  good 
one  would  be  a  great  comfort  to  you,  and  would  enti- 
tle you  more  fully  to  the  title  of  bishop — or  if,  after 
the  example  of  Christ,  you  should  administer  the  Sup- 
per in  the  way  it  was  instituted,  you  would  soon  be 
cast  out  as  an  apostate.  Practically,  her  infallible  doc- 
trines are  minor  matters,  while  those  embraced  under 
discipline  and  opinions  are  matters  on  which  she  has 
covered  the  earth  with  the  blood  and  bones  of  murder- 
ed men.  What  is  the  judge  worth  who  is  unable  to 
decide  on  all  questions  fairly  brought  before  him  aris- 
ing under  the  laws?  and  what  is  the  infallibility  of 
your  Church  worth  when  unable  to  decide  on  the  sim- 
plest questions  as  to  discipline  and  opinions,  and  when 
she  yet  sends  to  perdition  all  those  who  deviate  from 
her  practice  in  these  things  ?  Paley  tells  us  of  a  fish 
which,  when  pursued  by  its  enemy,  casts  forth  a  liquid 
that  muddles  the  water  and  blinds  the  eyes  of  its  pur- 
suer. Such  is  the  object  of  your  distinction  between 
doctrines  and  discipline ;  but  it  has  not  the  effect  of 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  291 

Pope  versus  pope.  How  is  it  done  ?  Yes  or  no  ? 

screening  your  absurd  dogma  from  being  hunted  down 
as  an  impertinent  and  wicked  assumption. 

4.  If  pope  contradicted  pope,  and  council  council 
— if  your  Church  has  taught  and  denied  in  one  age 
what  were  denied  and  taught  in  another,  as  has  been 
shown  a  thousand  times,  and  as  you  may  see  demon- 
strated in  Barrow,  Faber,  and  Edgar,  where  is  her  in- 
fallibility ?  But  let  me  ask  your  attention  to  a  few 
considerations  bearing  on  the  reasonableness  of  the 
thing. 

Man  in  his  best  estate  is  fallible.  The  history  of 
your  own  Church  teaches  this  beyond  any  other  unin- 
spired history  extant.  How  can  you  make  the  fallible 
infallible  ?  Can  a  whole  be  greater  than  its  parts  ? 
Docs  the  coming  together  of  three  hundred  fallible  men 
make  them  infallible  ? 

If  any  of  the  bodies  for  which  infallibility  is  claimed 
by  your  Church  were  infallible,  how  account  for  their 
awful  wickedness  and  grievous  errors  ?  If  it  inheres 
in  the  Pope,  were  John,  Benedict,  and  Alexander  in- 
fallible ?  men  born,  as  it  would  seem,  to  show  how  far 
human  nature  may  sink  in  degeneracy.  Were  the 
popes  raised  to  the  chair  of  Peter  by  the  courtesans 
Marozia  and  Theodora  infallible  ?  Gcnebrand  says 
lliat  for  one  Imndred  and  fifty  years  they  were  apos- 
taticai  rather  than  apostolical,  and  yet  were  they  infal- 
lihle?     What  say  you,  Bishf)p  Hughes?     Yes  or  no? 

But  perhaps  infallibility  was  in  the  comicils.  Wliat 
docs  the  noble  Saint  (ircgory  say  of  these?  Ho  com- 
pares thf'ir  dissension  and  wrangling  to  the  quarrels  of 
gecsc  and  cranes  gabbling  and  contending  in  confusion, 


292  KiK  WAN's    kj:  I'l.y 

Council  of  Lyons.  Its  work.  Where  docs  it  end  T 

and  represents  them  as  demoralizing  instead  of  reform- 
ing. A  foul  comparison  !  That  of  Byzantine,  Nazian- 
zen  describes  as  a  cabal  of  wretches  fit  for  the  House 
of  Correction.  C  ardinal  Hugo  thus  addressed  the  Coun- 
cil of  Lyons  on  the  withdrawal  of  the  Pope :  "  Friends," 
said  he,  "  we  have  effected  a  work  of  great  utility  and 
charity  in  this  city.  When  we  came  to  Lyons  we 
found  only  three  or  four  brothels  in  it ;  we  leave  at  our 
departure  only  one  ;  but  that  extends  from  the  eastern 
to  the  western  gate  of  the  city."  And  yet  infallible  I 
For  other  details  as  to  the  councils,  I  refer  you  to  Ed- 
gar, where  papal  authorities  for  these  statements  are 
fully  cited.  And  yet  were  these  councils,  canonical- 
ly  convened,  infallible  ?  Does  consecration  by  your 
Church  render  a  ruffian  infallible  ?  ''  The  Holy  Spir- 
it," said  Cardinal  Mandrucio,  at  Trent,  "  will  not  dwell 
in  men  who  are  vessels  of  impurity,  and  from  such, 
therefore,  no  right  judgment  can  be  expected  on  ques- 
tions of  faith." 

Can  there  be  doctrinal  without  moral  infallibility  ? 
Is  not  moral  apostasy  as  culpable  as  doctrinal  ?  Can 
there  be  infallibility  without  inspiration,  without  the 
.special  interposition  of  Heaven  in  each  case  ?  Can  it 
be  transferred  from  pope  to  pope,  from  council  to  coun- 
cil ?  That  your  people  may  not  err,  does  not  your  doc- 
trine require  infallible  bishops  to  explain  the  decrees  of 
popes  or  councils,  and  infallible  priests  to  explain  them 
to  the  people,  and  the  people  to  be  infallible  so  as  not 
to  misinterpret  the  priest  ?  Where  does  the  thing  find 
an  end  ?  It  is  in  vain  that  councils  send  forth  their 
decrees  unless  there  is  some  infallible  way  of  reaching 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES,  293 

Contradictory.  Meshes.  Correcting  the  Bible. 

their  infallible  meaning ;  and  if  their  meaning  is  left 
to  be  developed  by  the  "  private  reasoner,"  what  better 
are  you  off  than  if  you  permitted  him  to  read  and  to 
develop  the  meaning  of  the  Scriptures  for  himself?  Do 
you  not  know  that  Soto,  a  Dominican,  and  Vega,  a 
Franciscan,  gave  contradictory  interpretations  to  the 
decisions  of  the  Council  of  Trent  on  Original  Sin,  the 
last  council  "  that  blessed  the  world  by  its  orthodoxy, 
or  cursed  it  by  its  nonsense  ?"  Can  it  be  possible  that 
your  claim  for  infallibility  can  have  any  thing  to  sus- 
tain it  save  "  old  wives'  fables  ?"  The  assertion  of  it 
would  seem  to  argue  either  idiocy  or  insanity,  or  a  pi- 
ous knavery  which  would  seek  to  entrap  men  by  logi- 
cal meshes  woven  out  of  assertion,  falsehood,  and  im- 
posture. 

Nor,  sir,  have  wc  yet  rcachcxl  the  bottom  of  the  ab- 
surdity. Your  infallible  Church  has  set  itself  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  inspired  word  of  God,  and  to  correct  its 
plainest  principles.  As  T  have  illustrated  this  idea  in 
some  of  my  former  letters,  I  can  only  now  allude  to  it. 
The  Bible  makes  Gfod  the  only  object  of  worship  ;  you 
set  men  to  worsliip  the  Virgin,  the  Host,  the  Cross,  rel- 
ics, pictures,  and  images.  The  Bible  teaches  that  Je- 
sus Chri.st  is  the  only  intercessor  between  CJod  and 
man  ;  you  make  as  many  intercessors  as  there  are  an- 
gels, apostles,  martyrs,  and  saints,  and  send  sinners  to 
Mary  more  frequently  than  to  her  Son.  'J'lie  Bible 
teaches  that  nothing  is  sinful  l»ut  a  want  of  conformity 
to  the  law  of  (rod;  yf)U  make  the  violation  of  your 
ceremonial  laws  sinful  and  danmable,  while  the  viola- 
tion of  the  laws  (»f  God  is  a  venial  ofliinsc.      The  JJiblo 


294  kirwan's   reply 

Christianity  caricatured.  Not  credible.  Absolving  one  another. 

teaches  that,  to  serve  God  aright,  wo  must  be  regener- 
ated by  the  Spirit  of  Grod  ;  you  pronounce  this  a  false 
and  accursed  doctrine,  and  teach  that  we  are  regener- 
ated by  baptism,  and  kept  in  a  state  of  salvation  by 
other  sacraments  and  ceremonies  which  you  have  in- 
stituted. But  I  will  not  proceed  in  the  sickening  de- 
tail, which  proves  beyond  doubt  that  your  infallible 
Church  has  devised,  and  is  now  seeking  to  propagate, 
the  merest  caricature  of  Christianity ;  which  demon- 
strates that  there  is  the  same  difference  between  the 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  religion  of  Rome  that 
there  is  between  a  sensible,  well-formed,  well-bred, 
well-behaved  gentleman  and  a  harlequin  covered  with 
gewgaws,  seeking  to  amuse  the  people  by  his  dress 
and  his  tricks. 

Now,  sir,  in  view  of  all  these  things,  will  you  not 
bear  with  the  infirmities  of  a  "  private  reasoner,"  which 
compel  him  to  pronounce  your  doctrine  of  infallibility 
the  merest  assumption,  whose  only  object  is  to  make 
serfs  of  the  people  and  tyrants  of  the  priests  ?  Instead 
of  being  infallible,  your  Church  is  not  credible ;  her 
testimony  is  not  to  be  relied  on  save  when  substan- 
tiated by  other  witnesses.  This,  you  will  say,  is  an 
awful  proof  of  my  apostasy.  Be  it  so.  Nor  have  I  any 
idea  that  your  faith  in  the  doctrine  is  a  whit  stronger 
than  mine.  Cardinal  Perron,  you  know,  when  dying, 
pronounced  transubstantiation  a  monster ;  and  some 
priests  told  Bishop  Usher  that  the  chief  part  of  their 
confession  was  their  infidelity  in  the  doctrines  which 
they  taught,  and  for  which  they  mutually  absolved  one 
another.     Is  there  nothing  like  this  now  going  on  in 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  295 

How  ill  New  York.  Fleecing  the  poor. 

New  York  ?  Have  you  never  made  or  heard  such 
confessions?  I  have  no  idea  that,  as  a  rule,  your 
priests  beheve  otherwise  in  your  system  than  as  a  good 
scheme  to  fleece  the  ignorant  poor  of  their  money. 

Yours,  KiRWAN. 


296  K I R  ^v  A  N '  s    u  i-;  p  l  y 

Private  reaaoners.  Two  principles.  Reason  libeled. 


LETTER   VIII. 

The  Assertion  that  there  are  but  two  Principles,  Authority  and  Rea- 
son, for  the  determining  of  the  Meaning  of  Scripture,  examined  and 
confuted. 

My  dear  Sir, — Having  shown  how  utterly  "baseless 
and  false  are  the  main  positions  of  your  letters,  and 
exposed  their  utter  weakness  and  folly,  as  I  fondly 
hope,  even  to  yourself,  I  might  now  let  them  rest. 
"  The  sympathies  of  my  Irish  nature"  incline  me  to  do 
so,  as  I  fear  your  nervous  system  must  he  sufficiently 
excited;  but  my  love  for  the  race  surmounts  those 
sympathies,  and  compels  me  to  notice  what  you  say 
about  "  private  reasoners ;"  and  as  it  gives  room  for 
new  and  curious  illustration,  I  will  devote  to  it  the 
present  letter. 

In  paragraph  25,  you  say  that  there  arc  but  two 
])rinciples,  "authority  and  reason,"  by  which  we  can 
truly  determine  the  doctrines  of  revelation.  "  Author- 
ity" is  the  principle  of  the  papist ;  "  reason"  is  that  of 
all  not  papists.  The  principle  of  "  authority"  leads 
into  all  truth ;  that  of  "  reason"  into  all  error.  The 
reasoner  can  not  "  make  an  act  of  faith ;"  the  highest 
aspiration  of  his  mind  or  heart  is  simply  an  "  opinion." 
And  you  say  "  there  is  not  a  single  expression  of  Holy 
Writ  that  can  warrant  the  private  reasoners  of  any  age, 
whether  past  or  present,  to  believe  that  they  can  be 
saved  so  long  as  they  trust  to  their  own  individual 
opinions  for  the  attainment  of  the  truth,  and  the  means 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES,  297 

Not  speaking  Latin.  Cool  exclusion.  Why  endowed  with  reason. 

of  spiritual  life  and  participation  in  Christ."  And  all 
who  now  reject  the  authority  of  your  Church,  which 
now  exercises  the  precise  authority  which  Christ  did 
while  upon  earth,  you  denounce  as  "  private  reason- 
ers,"  incapable  of  faith,  and  as  '•  necessarily  out  of  the 
way  which  leads  to  eternal  life."  This,  sir,  is  not  speak- 
ing in  Latin,  as  you  do  when  you  mumble  masses. 
Your  English  is  more  than  usually  plain  here,  and 
so  will  mine  be  in  examining  the  practical  bearing  of 
this  cool  assumption  of  your  Church  to  think  for  every 
body ;  of  this  cool  exclusion  from  eternal  life  of  all  who 
will  not  permit  you  to  think  for  them,  and  who  dare 
to  think  for  themselves. 

The  first  idea  suggested  by  all  your  dribble  on  the 
subject  through  half  a  dozen  of  letters  is,  that  you  seem 
to  regret  that  God  has  endowed  any  body  save  bishops 
and  the  inferior  clergy  with  the  faculty  of  reason.  The 
exercise  of  it  on  the  subject  of  rehgion  is  denounced 
by  you  in  every  form  as  leading  to  schism,  heresy,  and 
hell.  Now,  sir,  if  the  exercise  of  my  reason  is  ab- 
stractedly HO  dangerous — if,  in  fact,  when  exercised,  it 
leads  to  such  awful  results,  how  can  you  account  for 
it  that  the  Lord  has  endowed  mo  with  reason  at  all  ? 
On  your  principles,  would  it  not  be  better  that  I  should 
have  been  born  with  a  razor  in  my  hand  to  cut  my 
throat,  than  with  rca.son  in  my  mind  which  compels  mo 
to  think  on  the  .subject  of  religion?  Would  it  not  bo 
better  fr)r  all  your  jiurposfs  that  1  should  have  no  rea- 
son ?  And  <lo  you  not  daily  find  the  simple  facts  that 
God  has  endowed  man  with  ren.son,  and  with  an  awful 
bia.s  to  exercise  it,  greatly  embarrassing  to  you  ?     Do 

N2 


298  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     REPLY 

Catching  disease.  Arcadian  scene.  Wicked  disposition. 

not  these  facts  give  rise  to  nearly  all  the  difficulties 
with  which  you  have  to  contend  in  the  discharge  of 
your  apostolical  duties  ?  If  men  never  turned  "  pri- 
vate reasoners,"  yours  would  be  an  easy  and  a  most 
lucrative  task  I  But  the  disease  of  reasoning  for  them- 
selves prevails  awfully  in  America,  and  it  is  more 
catching  than  the  small-pox  ! 

With  your  theory  fully  carried  out,  and  all  "  private 
reasoning"  fully  suppressed,  and  all  "  private  reason- 
ers" killed  off,  after  the  manner  of  the  extermination 
of  the  Huguenots  in  France,  by  the  authority  of  your 
Church,  earth  would  present  to  your  rejoicing  eyes  an 
Arcadian  scene  such  as  the  sun  has  not  yet  illumined. 
The  people  would  be  all  shcejj — yes,  literal  sheep ;  the 
Pope  would  be  the  chief  shepherd  ;  you,  John  Hughes, 
and  your  right  reverend  brethren,  would  be  his  watch- 
dogs. If  one  of  the  poor  sheep  should  ever  think  of 
straying  from  your  stagnant  waters  after  a  clear  rivu- 
let flowing  cool  from  under  the  rock,  at  which  to 
quench  his  thirst,  if  a  bark  would  not  terrify  him  back 
to  his  place,  he  would  be  soon  torn  to  pieces  as  a  warn- 
ing to  all  the  flock  not  to  imitate  his  example ;  and 
then  the  chief  shepherd  and  his  dogs  would  have  all 
the  flock  to  themselves,  from  the  wool  to  the  fat,  and 
from  horn  to  hoof.  And  nothing  prevents  your  getting 
out  from  such  a  Purgatory  of  clashing  opinions  as  that 
in  which  you  are  now  placed,  and  rising  up  to  such  a 
Paradise  as  I  have  here  sketched,  but  that  wicked  and 
depraved  disposition  of  men  to  question  your  author- 
ity, and  to  use  their  "  private  reason."  Considering 
that  this  abominable  abomination,  "  private  reason," 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES. 


299 


Reason  suppressed.  No  new  position.  Bible  useless. 

thus  excludes  you  from  the  Paradise  you  desire,  and 
shuts  you  up  in  a  Purgatory  from  which  neither  the 
efficacy  of  masses,  nor  "all  the  alms  and  suffi-ages  of 
the  faithful"  can  deliver  you,  you  have  hy  no  means 
sufficiently  denounced  it.  There  is  no  hope  for  you 
until  it  is  put  down !  But  I  would  advise  you  to 
strike  at  the  fountain  or  cause  of  the  evil,  which  is  God, 
who  endowed  man  with  reason  and  knowledge,  who 
has  given  him  such  a  depraved  disposition  to  use  them, 
and  who  has  commanded  him  to  give  "  to  every  man  a 
reason  for  the  hope  that  is  in  him,"  and  wdio  thus  in- 
vites all  men,  "  Come,  now,  let  us  reason  together,  saith 
the  Lord."  (to  up,  like  a  man,  to  the  cause  of  the 
evil  which  you  deplore,  and  you  are  at  once  in  condict 
with  your  Creator  I  This  is  no  new  position  for  even 
a  bishop. 

The  next  idea  suggested  by  what  you  say  about 
*'  private  reason"  is  the  utter  inutility  of  the  Bible.. 
Tlicre  arc  but  two  principles,  "  authority  and  reason," 
by  which  wc  can  know  its  meaning.  Authority  is  in 
the  hands  of  your  ('hurch,  to  bo  exercised  as  she  wills : 
to  read  the  Bible  and  reason  about  it  leads  to  hell! 
WJK'-rtt,  then,  is  the  need  of  the  Bible  at  all,  save  a  few 
(•()j)i('s  fur  tbo  liishops  and  iiifrrior  clergy,  which  they 
may  oijcnsionally  consult  fur  tin-  |Mirii<)sc,  of  finding  out 
chapter  and  verse  of  sudi  texts  as  these :  "  Thou  art 
Peter,"  "  Confcs.s  your  sins  one  to  another."  Sir,  on 
your  principles,  there  is  no  need  of  it ;  and  hence,  in 
purely  Catholic  countries,  you  dispense  with  it.  Do 
you  rf^membcr  how  many  liibles  that  queer  man,  Bor- 
row, couM    find    in   S[)ain  ?     How  many,  think   you, 


300  Iv  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     REPLY 

All  in  the  air.  Heart  hatred.  A  clovcr-fleld. 

could  be  purchased  in  the  hook-stores  of  Rome  ?  How 
many,  thmk  you,  could  be  found  among  the  peasantry 
of  Munster  and  Connaught,  who  yet  wear  the  yoke  of 
your  Church  ?  If  all  collected,  I  think  they  would  not 
add  materially  to  the  weight  of  the  bag  in  which  you 
pack  your  vestments  when  going  forth  on  some  of  your 
episcopal  visitations.  You  talk  about  the  Protestant 
translation  as  false  and  as  defective,  but  that  is  all  in 
the  air.  The  cause  of  your  opposition  to  the  Bible  is 
bound  up  with  your  principle — "authority."  What 
men  read  they  will  use  their  "  private  reason"  to  com- 
prehend ;  and  if  the  hidden  man  of  your  heart  were 
known,  it  would  be  seen  that  you  hate  the  circulation 
of  the  Bible  as  much  as  you  hate  Kirwan's  Letters,  as 
the  one  is  the  cause  of  the  other.  Sir,  there  is  no  pos- 
sibility of  sustaining  "  authority"  versus  "private  rea- 
son" with  a  Bible  circulated  in  whole  or  in  part.  So 
.  awfully  fearful  are  you  upon  this  point,  that  many  of 
your  inferior  clergy  never  read  the  Bible,  lest  they 
should  become  "  private  reasoners."  Not  long  since,  I 
received  a  visit  from  a  priest  who  acted  as  curate  in 
Ireland,  and  who  told  me  that  all  of  the  Bible  he  ever 
saw  while  in  your  Church  were  the  small  portions 
scattered,  like  angels'  visits,  through  the  Mass  Book. 
Sir,  your  doctrine  of"  authority"  supersedes  the  Bible, 
and  its  circulation  leads  to  mortal  sin,  because  it  makes 
men  "  private  reasoners."  "What  a  pity  the  Bible  was 
ever  written  !  Would  not  this  world  of  ours  be  a  clo- 
ver-field for  your  priests,  if  the  Bible,  like  your  tradi- 
tions, had  only  been  left  unwritten  and  unprinted  ?  No 
wonder  that  the  thunders  of  the  Vatican  are  hurled  at 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  301 

Declining  reference.  IIow  decide  the  matter.  The  altcniativo. 

our  Bible  Societies,  which  are  so  awfully  multiplying 
'•  private  reasoners."  But  mere  thunder,  though  noisy, 
is  harmless. 

There  is  yet  another  idea  connected  with  what  you 
say  about  "  authority*'  and  "  reason,"  which,  in  this 
country,  at  least,  must  strike  one  as  singular.  I  have 
no  doubt  it  will  so  strike  yourself.  When  two  clever 
men  get  into  difficulty,  they  consent  to  have  it  fairly 
adjudicated,  and  to  abide  the  decision  of  an  impartial 
tribunal.  If  one  declines  such  a  reference,  and  insists 
on  having  it  his  own  way,  the  fair  inference  would  bo 
that  he  was  conscious  of  being  in  the  wrong.  Between 
the  intelligent  men  of  our  race  and  your  Church  there 
is  a  difficulty.  Your  Church  asserts  the  right  of  think- 
ing for  them,  and  damns  them  unless  they  permit  her 
to  do  so.  They  deny  that  right.  How  is  the  question 
to  be  settled  ?  They  arc  an  interested  party,  because 
their  civil  and  spiritual  freedom  are  involved ;  and  so 
is  your  Church,  because,  if  decided  against  her,  she  is 
ever  afterward  deprived  of  "  the  alms  and  sufiVages  of 
the  faithful."  If  your  claim  is  true,  they  are  .slaves; 
if  false,  they  are  free,  and  your  craft  is  endeil.  How 
is  this  matter  to  bo  decided?  Your  Church  replies, 
"  With  mo  is  the  authority  to  bind  or  to  loose  ;  it  must 
bo  referred  to  mc  as  the  only  competent  authority." 
But  thoy  say,  "  No  ;  you  arc  an  interested  party — you 
have  millions  at  stake ;  your  character  and  standing 
before  heaven  and  earth  are  at  stake ;  your  decision 
must  be  partial ;  but  wo  will  abide  tbo  decision  of  any 
tribunal  save  that  which  you  set  up."  But  your  (Ihurch 
says,  '*  No :  you  viust  abide  by  my  decision.,  or  be 


302  K  I  R  A\-  A  N  '  S     R  !■;  1'  L  \ 

Ridiculously  iibsurJ.  Driveling  nonsense. 

davmed.'"'  Sir,  were  men  in  conflict  but  for  a  dollar, 
this  would  wear  knavery  on  the  face  of  it.  Can  it 
wear  less  when  the  points  at  issue  are  whether  your 
priests  shall  he  despots,  and  the  human  race  their  pli- 
ant serfs  ?  Is  not  this  absurd  up  to  the  point  of  the 
ridiculous  ? 

There  is  yet  another  principle  connected  with  your 
doctrine  of  "authority"  and  "private  reason."  The 
man  that  believes  all  you  tell  him  "  makes  an  act  of 
faith,"  but  the  poor  "  private  reasoner"  that  goes  to 
the  Bible  for  himself  can  form  only  an  "opinion"  upon 
any  subject.  To  illustrate :  When  you  tell  a  poor 
papist  who  believes  you  float  Christ  Jesus  is  co-equal 
with  the  Father,  his  belief  of  what  you  say  is  "  an  act 
of  faith ;"  when  I  learn  the  same  truth  from  the  Bible 
and  believe  it,  with  me  it  is  only  an  "  opinion  !"  He 
believes  on  "  authority,"  and  I  am  a  "  private  reasoner." 
His  "  act  of  faith"  saves  him  ;  my  "  opinion"  damns 
me ;  when  his  belief  and  mine  are  the  same,  with  only 
this  difference,  he  gets  his  "  faith"  from  you,  I  my 
"  opinion"  from  the  Bible !  Sir,  this  is  something  more 
than  driveling  nonsense.    It  is  contemptible  blasphemy. 

But  let  us  try  this  scheme  in  its  application  to  some 
texts  and  truths,  that  we  may  see  how  it  works. 

"  Bishop  Hughes,"  says  John  Murphy,  "  what  is  the 
meaning  of  that  text  (James,  v.,  16),  "  Confess  your 
faults  one  to  another,  and  pray  for  one  another  ?" 
"  Why,  John,"  you  reply,  "  it  means,  confess  your 
sins  to  the  priest,  and  ask  the  priest  to  pray  for  you." 
John  believes,  and  makes  an  act  of  faith.  I,  a  little 
more  cautious,  look  at  the  text,  and  thus  reason  about 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  303 

John  Murpliy  and  I.  Different  ends.  This  done  now. 

it.  "  One  to  another" — that  looks  very  much  like  the 
priest  confessing  to  me  if  I  confess  to  the  priest,  and  I 
praying  for  the  priest  if  the  priest  prays  for  me.  I 
look  a  little  farther  after  "  one  another"  or  "  one  to  an- 
other." I  find  in  Heb.,  iii.,  13,  the  following  words : 
"  Exhort  one  another."  Does  this  mean  that  the  priest 
must  exhort  me,  but  not  I  the  priest  ?  Very  well.  I 
find  the  following  words  in  Eph.,  iv.,  32 :  "  Be  kind 
one  to  another,  tender-hearted,  forgiving  one  another." 
Does  this  mean  that  the  priest  must  be  kind  and  ten- 
der-hearted to  me,  and  not  I  to  the  priest?  that  he 
must  forgive  me,  but  not  I  him  ?  AVhat  say  you, 
Bishop  Hughes  ?  Yet  John  Murphy  believes  you,  and 
makes  an  act  of  faith,  and  goes  to  confession,  and  pays 
you,  and  goes  to  heaven  ;  I,  a  ''  private  reasoner,"  con- 
clude you  pervert  the  Scriptures  to  make  a  gain  of 
godliness,  confess  my  sins  to  God,  and  for  my  opinion 
— go  to  hell  I 

John  Murphy  again  asks,  "Bishop,  what  is  the 
meaning  of  Matt,  xxvi.,  26, 27  ?"  You  reply,  "  Why, 
John,  it  means  that  Christ  transubstantiated  the  bread 
and  the  wino  into  his  own  body  and  blood,  and  that 
then  he  muhij)li»'d  bim.self  into  twelve,  and  that  then 
he  gave  hims<;lf  to  bo  eaten  to  each  of  the  apostles,  and 
after  he  wa.s  thus  eaten  lie  wa.s  not  eaten  ;  he  was  yet 
alive,  and  spoke  to  them."  With  his  eyes  wonderfully 
dilated,  he  a.sks,  "  l^ishop,  is  ibis  done  now?"  "Oh 
yes,  Jobn,"  yon  reply,  "daily  in  Ihe  mass."  Tie  agnin 
ask.s,  "  Bi.shop,  wby  not  give  ibe  bread  and  tbc  wine 
now  to  the  people  ?"  "  Tbc.  reason,  .lobn,  is,"  you  reply, 
"that,  as  the  wafer  is  rbanged  into  the  real  body  and 


304  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     REPLY 

II ow  the  rule  works.  How  saveil.  Not  good  iionseiiso. 

blood  of  Christ,  there  is  no  need  of  it ;  for  if  we  eat  the 
whole  body,  we  of  course  eat  the  blood  with  it."  John 
is  satisfied,  makes  an  act  of  faith,  and  is  saved ;  I, 
looking  a  little  farther  into  the  Scriptures,  soon  con- 
clude that  the  passage  means  that  the  broken  bread 
represented  his  body  broken,  and  the  wine  in  the  cup 
represented  his  blood  poured  out.  John  Murphy,  for 
his  act  of  faith,  is  saved,  and  I,  poor  Kirwan,  for  my 
opinion,  am  damned  ! ! 

Such,  sir,  is  the  way  your  rule  works  as  to  texts. 
Let  us  now  see  how  it  works  as  to  some  important 
truths. 

Jolin  Murphy  again  approaches  you  and  asks,  "  Bish- 
op, how  can  I  be  saved?"  "Why,  John,"  you  reply, 
"  the  Church  makes  that  very  plain ;  you  must  be 
baptized,  and  go  to  mass,  and  perform  penance ;  you 
must  go  regularly  to  confession;  when  dying,  you 
must  receive  extreme  unction ;  then  you  must  go  to 
Purgatory,  from  which  you  are  to  be  delivered  by  the 
efficacy  of  masses,  and  by  the  alms  and  suffrages  of 
the  faithful ;  and  then  you  go  to  heaven."  Amazed 
at  the  tedious,  round-about  process,  poor  John  makes 
an  act  of  faith  and  is  saved,  I  turn  to  the  Scriptures, 
and  preferring  the  word  of  G-od  to  yours,  believe  that 
"he  that  believeth  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  shall  be 
saved."  John  Murphy  believes  you,  and  is  saved ;  I 
believe  God,  and  am  damned.  And  so  on  to  the  end 
of  the  chapter.  Why,  Bishop  Hughes,  all  this  has  not 
even  the  redeeming  quality  of  being  good  nonsense,  an 
article  in  whose  production  our  countrymen  are  not 
usually  deficient,  even  when  their  power  as  private 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  305 

Baseless  reasons.  Can't  believe  tliein.  Balaam's  ass. 

reasoners  is  at  low-water  mark — an  article  in  whose 
manufacture  even  you  yourself  are  sometimes  quite 
clever  ! 

Here,  sir,  I  will  close  my  review  of  your  reasons  for 
adherence  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  as  given  in 
your  ten  letters  to  '*  Dear  Reader."  Never  were  rea- 
sons more  baseless,  or  weaker,  presented  to  the  human 
mind  to  justify  either  opinions  or  conduct.  The  way 
in  which  you  state  them  obviously  shows  that  you 
never  examined  them  ;  that  you  received  them  as  true, 
as  a  good  son  of  the  Church,  without  ever  asking  why 
or  wherefore  in  reference  to  them.  Your  reception  of 
them  was  obviously  an  act  of  faith,  and  not  an  opin- 
ion formed  in  the  usual  process  of  a  private  reasoner. 
And  to  ask  me,  or  any  sensible,  thinking  man,  to  be- 
lieve in  the  CathoUc  Church  for  the  reasons  presented 
in  your  letters,  is  on  a  par  with  asking  me  to  believe 
that  the  little  wafer,  made  of  flour,  which  you  lay 
upon  the  tongue  of  a  papist  bowing  before  your  altar, 
is  transubstantiated  by  a  miserably  mumbled  cere- 
mony into  the  real  body  and  blood  of  Christ.  You 
might  almost  as  soon  ask  mc  to  believe  in  all  the 
miracles  of  the  good  i^t.  Fithian  or  the  holy  St.  Bridget. 

Balaam'.s  ass  would  never  have  had  a  name  or  a 
place  on  the  i)ago  of  history  were  it  not  for  the  whip- 
ping which  his  master  gave  him  ;  and  were  it  not  for 
that  whi|)ping,  never  would  liairs  from  liis  tail  have 
been  pn.'servcd  amid  the  sacred  relics  of  Rome.  Sim- 
ilar, I  fear,  will  be  the  eflroct  of  this  review  in  bringing 
up  to  public  notice  hitters  which  have  neither  sense, 
truth,  wit,  logic,  or  even  "clever  scurrility"  to  recom- 


80G  KIR  WAN's     REPLY 


Massive  dullness. 


mend  them,  and  which,  if  let  alone,  might  have  reach- 
ed the  very  depths  of  ohlivion  by  the  massive  weight 
of  their  dullness. 

But,  sir,  although  through  with  your  ten  letters,  the 
end  is  not  yet. 

Yours,  KiRWAN. 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  307 

Six  letters.  Quite  interesting.  No  new  issues. 


LETTER   IX. 

The  Bishop's  six  Letters  to  Kirwan  reviewed.* 

My  dear  Sir, — I  wish  in  the  present  epistle  to  no- 
tice, in  the  briefest  way,  those  last  and  curious  produc- 
tions of  your  pen,  your  six  letters  to  Kirwan.  If  your 
papal  assumptions  and  papal  logic  made  your  ten  let- 
ters to  "  Dear  Reader"  intolerably  dull,  you  have  cast 
into  these  so  much  low  personality,  so  much  episcopal 
impertinence,  and  such  a  strong  spice  of  Irish  ill-hu- 
mor, as  to  make  them  quite  interesting.  They  are 
certainly  readable  productions,  and  give  us  new  reve- 
lations both  as  to  your  fine  taste  and  wonderful  good- 
nature. You  can  not  expect  that  I  will  permit  you 
to  raise  new  issues  between  you  and  myself,  so  as  to 
divert  the  public  mind  from  the  points  to  which  I  have 
solicited  its  and  your  attention,  nor  can  you  expect 
that  I  could  fur  a  moment  descend  to  the  low  level 
along  which,  in  those  letters,  you  have  seen  fit  to  move ; 
yet  I  would  respectfully  call  your  attention  to  a  few 
remarks  in  reference  to  them,  and  this  I  will  do  after 
the  manner  of  .<omc  old  preachers,  under  a  few  heads. 

1.  Your  letters  give  us  an  amusing  view  of  the  man- 

•  It  would  ho  very  much  to  my  IriHto  to  iniblinh  in  tliis  edition  the 
ten  lcttcrn  to  "  iJrar  Rr.-ulnr'  .'ind  llio  nix  letters  to  "  Kirw.-in,"  liut 
they  would  increoac  the  •ir.o  and  price  of  the  volume,  without  a  fiujli- 
ricnt  rcmunrr.ition  to  the  reader  or  Iniyer ;  bciideR,  "  the  KyinpathicH 
of  my  Irish  nature"  h-ad  me  to  dcitire  to  cxpoHc  tlie  weakness  of  my 
good  friend  as  littlo  aM  po8ail)lc. 


808  K  I  R  W  A  N '  S     REPLY 

Dropped  at  Lent  A  iiroinising  man.  Died  at  Lent. 

ner  in  wliich  you  keep  your  promises.  In  your  first 
series  you  say,  "  I  propose  to  publish  a  series  of  letters 
on  the  same  great  topics  which  Kirwan  has  discussed." 
These  letters  drew  "  their  slow  length  along"  until 
they  reached  No.  10,  and  the  "  great  topics  which  Kir- 
wan has  discussed"  were  left  untouched.  Feeling  that 
you  could  not  write  such  letters  upon  fish  and  eggs, 
you  dropped  them  at  the  commencement  of  Lent ; 
they  have  never  since  heen  resumed.  In  your  second 
series  you  say,  "  Your  letters  purport  to  explain  the 
reasons  why  you  left  the  Roman  Catholic  Church ;  .  . 
the  object  of  mine  will  be  to  review  those  reasons  ;" 
and  yet,  in  your  six  letters,  there  is  not  the  most  remote 
allusion  to  "  those  reasons !"  Is  this  owing,  sir,  to  a 
want  of  memory  or  to  the  want  of  ability  ?  or  is  it  a 
sample  of  the  way  in  which  you  generally  meet  your 
promises  ?  The  facts  certainly  show  that  you  are  a 
most  promising  man. 

2.  Your  letters  give  us  an  interesting  view  of  your 
moral  courage.  When  you  commenced  your  first  se- 
ries, wo  Protestants  certainly  felt  and  said,  "  Now  W(>. 
are  going  to  have  a  tract  for  the  times,  and  worthy  of 
the  controversy."  But  the  little  spice  of  the  first  let- 
ter was  not  found  in  any  other  of  the  series,  and  they 
became  utterly  insipid,  and  died  at  the  sight  of  Lent! 
When  the  second  series  commenced,  we  all  said,  and 
the  papers,  political  and  religious,  said,  "  Now  wo  are 
going  to  have  a  racy  and  manly  discussion."  Six  let- 
ters are  published  without  touching  a  single  topic  in 
controversy,  and  again  you  retire  !  and  almost  before 
your  quill  was  dry  you  were  off  for  Halifax  I     And 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  309 

Gone  to  Halifax.  The  general  thins.  Hard  nuts. 


when  we  now  inquire  after  your  right  reverence,  the 
only  reply  we  receive  is,  '^  He  is  gone  to  Halifax  !"  If 
you  compare  my  desertion  of  the  Catholic  Church 
when  a  boy  to  the  desertion  of  our  flag  by  some  of  our 
soldiers  in  ]\Iexico,  to  what  can  we  liken  your  desertion 
of  her  in  her  present  exigencies  ?  For  a  mere  strip- 
ling recruit  to  run  away  in  a  time  of  peace  is  a  small 
matter,  but  for  the  general  in  command  to  flee  to  Hal- 
ifax in  the  very  midst  of  the  battle  is  a  very  different 
affair  I  I  hope  you  can  satisfy  "  the  illustrious  Pope 
Pius  IX."  as  to  all  this !  But  you  may  console  your- 
self with  the  sage  and  comforting  reflection, 

"  He  who  fights  and  runs  away, 
Will  live  to  fight  another  day." 

May  wo  not  hope  to  see  you  again,  and  tilt  with  you 
after  your  return  from  Halifax  ? 

3.  Your  letters  furnish  a  very  nice  illustration  of  an 
ca.sy  way  of  getting  out  of  a  difficulty.  You  expected 
to  make  short  work  of  Kirwan's  Letters  when  you 
commenced  answering  without  reading  them  I  But  as 
you  read  on,  you  found  the  nuts  were  a  little  harder 
to  crack  than  you  had  anticipated,  and  you  made  Iho 
commencement  of  Lent  an  excuse  for  dropping  them. 
But  thi.s  disj)l(!asod  your  priests  and  ])eoplc,  and,  as  the 
Freeman's  Journal  testifies,  you  were  called  upon  to 
give  to  the  letters  of  Kirwan  a  direct  answ(!r.  This 
papist.s  and  Protestants  alike  desired  and  dcniandtnl. 
As  there  was  no  way  of  evasion,  in  an  evil  hour  you 
con.scnted  to  rf)mply  with  the  demand,  and  lieneo  those 
six  unfortunate  letters  which  have  so  widely  excited  a 
smile  at  your  expcn.sc.     If  you  continue  to  (Ifiut  after 


310  K  1  li  A\  A  N  '  S     REPLY 

Oooii  deal  of  bladder.  No  respect.  An  Irish  way. 

six  such  letters,  you  have  more  bladder  about  you  than 
was  generally  supposed.  In  these  it  is  obvious  that 
you  have  read  Kirwan.  Your  temper  and  your  quota- 
tions are  proof  of  this.  Again  you  find  the  nuts  too 
hard  to  crack ;  and  seeing  that,  instead  of  crushing 
them,  you  were  only  covering  your  own  fingers  with 
blood  and  bruises,  you  cry  out  at  the  close  of  the 
sixth  letter,  "You  wish  me  to  dispute  with  you  on 
matters  of  general  controversy;  I  must  beg  leave  to 
decline  the  proposed  honor ;  I  can  not  consent  to  dis- 
pute with  any  man  for  whom  I  feel  no  respect ;"  and 
after  bowing  me,  "  for  the  present,  farewell,"  you  are 
off  for  Halifax  I  That  is,  after  laboring  through  three 
months  of  the  last  winter,  and  sweltering  through  six 
mortal  weeks  of  the  present  summer,  to  confute  mc,  in 
vain,  you  find  out  that  you  have  no  respect  for  me, 
decline  further  controversy,  and  flee  to  Halifax !  tSo 
that  when  a  man  is  fairly  worsted,  he  has  only  to  find 
out  that  he  has  no  respect  for  his  antagonist,  and  then 
he  can  retire,  crowned  with  laurels,  from  the  contro- 
versy I  How  easily,  according  to  this  rule,  could  the 
dastardly  Santa  Anna  have  gained  a  complete  victory 
over  the  gallant  Scott,  and  even  after  the  Yankees 
were  reveling  in  the  halls  of  the  Montczumas !  He 
had  only  to  find  out  that  he  had  no  respect  for  him  !* 
Now,  sir,  I  shrewdly  conjecture  that  this  way  of 
getting  out  of  a  difficulty  is  borrowed  from  "  old  Ire- 
land." Did  you  ever  go  to  school  in  Ireland  ?  or  were 
those  awful  laws,  of  which  you  speak  in  your  last  let- 
ter, in  force  until  after  your  emigration  ?     Perhaps,  if 

*  This  letter  was  written  just  at  the  close  of  the  Mexican  war. 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  311 

An  odd  scene.  Tlie  speecli.  The  lliglit. 


you  did,  you  may  remember  that  Irish  boys  are  very 
fond  of  fighting  after  school.  A  very  odd  scene,  which 
was  acted  one  evening,  is  now  before  my  mmd,  as  if 
it  transpired  but  yesterday.  There  was  a  large,  clum- 
sy fellow,  that  by  his  boasting  and  violent  gesticula- 
tions kept  all  the  boys  for  some  weeks  in  dread  of  him  ; 
and  there  was  a  thin  but  muscular  boy,  who  at  length 
resolved  to  meet  liim  in  a  fair  boxing-match.  Those 
of  us  in  the  secret  retired  to  a  secluded  spot  and  form- 
ed a  ring,  and  the  fight  commenced.  It  was  soon  ap- 
parent, to  the  joy  of  us  all,  that  the  thin,  muscular  boy 
was  an  overmatch  for  his  opponent.  In  every  round 
he  had  signally  the  advantage.  After  nearly  as  many 
round.s  as  you  have  written  letters  to  and  about  Kir- 
wan,  the  large,  clumsy  fellow,  with  his  eyes  swelled 
up,  and  his  nose  and  mouth  streaming  blood,  and 
scarcely  able  to  stand  uj),  thus  addressed  the  boy  that 
almost  pounded  him  to  jelly  :  "  You  are  a  mean,  dirty 
blackguard,  for  whom  I  have  no  respect,  and  1  will 
fight  no  more  with  you."  Feeling  this  an  additional 
instilt,  his  antagonist  bared  his  arms  for  another  round, 
but  the  beaten  boy  fled  blubbering  from  the  ring ;  but 
whithor  he  llrd  I  liavc  no  moans  of  knowing.  Per- 
haps your  reverence  may  find  him  in  Halifax.  S^o,  you 
sec,  your  way  of  getting  out  of  a  difliculty,  all  hough  in- 
genious, is  iifit  new,  and  both  you  and  Ib.o  public  know 
it  i.««  nr)t  thf  truo  reason.  Nay  I  not  hope  you  will  re- 
turn to  tho  fight  on  your  return  from  Halifax  ? 

4.  Your  letters  reveal  what  may  be  regarded  as  a 
compound  estimate  of  those  Avhirh  I  bavc.  addressed  to 
you.      In  your  first  series,  you  speak  of  tliom  as  "  pes- 


ol2  KIR  WAN's     REPLY 

t'oinpouiid  estimate.  Wiml-bag.  Too  Klippcry. 

sessing  a  sprightliness  of  style  which  renders  them  a 
pleasing  contrast  to  the  filthy  volumes  that  have  been 
written  on  the  same  side,"  and  not  long  afterward  you 
speak  of  them  as  containing  only  "  clever  scurrility." 
In  your  six  letters,  you  say  of  mine  that,  "  so  far  as 
regards  the  grammatical  construction  of  phrases,  and 
a  correct  and  almost  elegant  use  of  Anglo-Saxon  words, 
they  are  not  unworthy  of  the  country  which  produced 
a  Dean  Swift  or  a  Groldsmith."  This,  from  a  compe- 
tent critic,  would  be  high  praise ;  and  even  from  you, 
it  shows  that  your  miserably  exclusive  and  debasing 
rehgious  system  has  not  suppressed  all  the  generous 
pulsations  of  your  Irish  heart.  But  then  you  speak  of 
them  afterward  as  written  in  the  "  true  wind-bag 
style."  Now,  sir,  how  to  reconcile  these  things,  I  know 
not,  save  on  the  ground  that  the  "  wind-bag"  is  yours, 
and  that  Kirwan's  Letters  have  pricked  it  until  it  has 
fallen  into  a  state  of  collapse  beyond  the  power  of  a 
new  inflation. 

5.  They  reveal  a  great  dishonesty  in  evading  the 
point  of  a  statement.  The  editor  of  the  Observer  has 
already  exposed  your  miserable  and  truthless  perver- 
sion of  the  scene  at  the  confessional,  and,  as  you  well 
know,  drawn  by  me  to  the  life.  The  exposure  of  that 
single  perversion  is  enough  to  brand  you  for  life  as  an 
unfair  man — as  too  slippery  to  be  trusted.  So  you 
evade  the  point  of  the  statement  as  to  the  priest  read- 
ing a  dead  list  from  the  altar  for  so  much  a  head  per 
year  to  pray  them  out  of  Purgatory.  Do  you  deny 
that  such  a  list  is  read,  and  that,  unless  the  priest  is 
paid,  he  drops  the  names  ?     That  is  the  point  of  the 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  olo 

St.  Tibbs"s  eve.  Paid  in  whisky.  St.  John's  Well. 

statement.  The  fact  you  deny  is  a  fact  not  questioned 
by  me,  that  any  priest  ever  decides  ivhen  any  soul 
leaves  Purgatory  I  I  have  no  doubt  they  will  Iveep 
souls  there  as  long  as  they  can  get  money  to  say  mass 
for  them,  if  it  were  until  St.  Tibb's  eve,  which  is  the 
eve  after  the  final  consummation. 

So  you  evade  the  point  of  the  facts  as  to  the  drunk- 
en priests.  You  say,  and  truly,  that  such  facts  form 
no  argument  against  religion,  or  any  form  of  it,  and 
that  you  have  seen  Protestant  ministers  in  state  prison 
for  worse  sins  than  drunkenness.  But  the  point  of 
the  statement  is,  that  these  drunken,  worthless  priests, 
whether  deposed  or  recti  in  ccclesia,  were  miracle 
ivorkers,  and  were  daily  resorted  to  for  miraculous 
cures  both  as  to  men  and  cattle,  and  for  which  they 
were  paid  in  money  and  Irish  whisky  I  That,  sir,  is 
the  ix)int.  Have  you  ever  seen  a  Protestant  minister, 
deposed  for  drunkenness,  or  in  a  state  prison  for  a  crim- 
inal offense,  resorted  to  by  Protestants  for  miraculous 
cures,  and  paid  for  them  in  money  or  whisky,  the  peo- 
ple waiting  for  him  to  get  .sober  in  order  to  work  the 
miracle  ?  If  not,  where  is  the  point  of  your  parallel  ? 
And  .so  as  1o  "  St.  .lohn's  Well.''  You  say  that  you 
^^  knoiv  vol  fling  ahoni  7/,"  jind  y<'t  you  j)ronounce  the 
story  a  fHbricatit)n  !  If  you  know  nothing  abnnt  it, 
what  right  have  you  to  say  it  is  untrup,  wlu'u  millions 
of  living  witnesses  might  bo  collected  in  Irfl.-ind  to  the 
tnith  of  the  stat-emcnt — when  the  well  is  ihcro  to  tes- 
tify for  it.scif?  Sir,  is  the  story  about  St.  Patrick's 
Well,  in  the  county  Down,  a  fabrication,  whoso  orgie-s 
are  a  disgrace  in  thn  civilized  world  ?     Arc  the  Seven 

O 


314  UIKWAN's     RKI'LY 

Vexed.  Rcductio  ad  absurduni.  Being  a  devil. 

Stations  at  or  near  Athlone  a  fabrication,  where  feats 
of  superstition  are  yearly  performed  which  cast  into 
the  shade  those  of  the  Hindoo  fakirs  ?  It  is  no  won- 
der you  are  ashamed  and  vexed  when  the  deep  degra- 
dation to  which  popery  has  reduced  our  unhappy  coun- 
try is  exposed  to  the  indignant  scorn  of  free  and  intel- 
hgent  American  citizens ;  it  is  no  wonder  when  you 
seek,  in  any  way,  to  escape  from  the  obloquy  to  which 
the  upholding  of  such  a  system  subjects  you  ;  but  you 
should  have  a  little  more  regard  for  yourself  than  to 
pronounce  a  thing  false  about  which  you  confess  you 
know  nothing ! 

6.  Your  letters  exhibit  a  great  dislike  for  the  reduc^ 
Ho  ad  ahsurdum  ;  and  no  wonder,  when  your  system 
ofters  so  many  and  such  strong  temptations  to  use  it 
And  yet  you  know  that  it  is  a  legitimate  way  of  rea/ 
soning.  I  hope  you  can  not  say  of  this,  as  of  St.  John's 
Well,  that  you  "  know  nothing  about  it."  I  am  striv- 
ing to  show  the  absurdity  of  literal  interpretation,  as 
you  use  it,  to  prove  certain  papal  tenets ;  and  I  ask 
how,  by  your  rule,  you  escape  the  inference  of  being 
a  devil  while  upholding  the  doctrine  of  clerical  celibacy, 
which  Paul  pronounces  a  doctrine  of  devils  ?  My  ob- 
ject is  to  show  the  absurdity  of  your  rule,  and  yet  you 
seem  as  vexed  about  it  as  if  the  budding  horns  had  al- 
ready appeared  upon  your  temples  !  So  as  to  the  text, 
"  He  that  eateth  this  bread  shall  never  hunger."  The 
object  is  to  show  the  unspeakable  absurdity  of  your 
rule.  If  that  rule  is  true,  then  all  that  you  have  to 
do  is  to  give  your  wafer  to  the  poor  famishing  Irish, 
and  they  hunger  no  more.     This  you  pronounce  "  a 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  315 

Horrible  blow.  My  infidelity.  Eight  reason.s. 

horrible  pun  on  the  words  of  the  Savior."  You  mis- 
take ;  it  is  a  horrible  blow  at  your  ridiculous  interpre- 
tation of  "  this  is  my  body  ;"  and  because  the  blow  is 
so  heavy,  it  is  immediately  big  with  '•  impiety  and  in- 
humanity." Now,  sir,  the  way  for  you  to  get  rid  of 
all  that  kind  of  argument  is  to  withdraw  the  premises 
on  wliich  it  is  built ;  or,  when  you  see  that  your  prem- 
ises lead  to  such  absurd  consequences,  to  reject  them. 
It  will  do  you  no  good  to  get  vexed  abbut  it. 

7.  Your  letters  also  exhibit  wonderfully  cogent  proofs 
of  my  infidelity.  True,  all  we  Protestants  are  pro- 
nounced infidels  by  you  because  we  are  unable  "  to 
make  an  act  of  faith ;"  but  the  proofs  of  my  infidelity 
are  extra,  and  are  furnished  by  my  letters.  The  first 
is,  I  appeal  to  "  common  sense"  very  often.  The  sec- 
ond is,  I  eat  meat  on  Friday,  and  think  it  neither  in- 
jures the  bodies  nor  the  souls  of  men.  The  third  is,  1 
believe  that  intelligent  worship  is  only  acceptable  to 
God  or  beneficial  to  me.  The  fourth  is,  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  you  can  make  G-od  out  of  a  flour  wafer.  The 
fifth  is,  I  do  not  believe  that  Mary  was  the  mother  of 
God.  The  sixth  is,  I  do  not  sufficiently  reverence 
Mary,  only  speaking  of  her  as  "  a  good  woman."  The 
.seventh  is,  I  do  not  highly  enough  value  the  lubrica- 
tion of  an  old  sinner,  when  dying,  with  olive  oil.  The 
eighth  is,  1  believe  it  is  as  acceptable  an  act  to  God  to 
worship  the  head  of  Balaam's  ass,  as  a  human  skull 
said  to  be  that  of  the  Apostle  Paul.  And  all  these 
specifications  arc  melted  down  and  moulded  into  one 
great  and  grand  charge,  "  rny  insult  to  the  mysteries 
of  the  Catholic  faith."    Well,  sir,  if  these  are  proofs  of 


oiG    "  K  I  K  \V  A  N  '  S      U  K  1'  L  Y 


Candid  conression.  Quiver  or  arrows.  '       Killing  a  cat. 

my  infidelity,  although  no  friend  to  the  confessional,  I 
confess  them  all.  But  let  mo  inform  you  that  I  draw 
a  distinction  between  Bible  and  papal  mysteries.  The 
first  I  receive  as  inscrutable  and  adorable ;  the  second 
I  reject  as  the  mysteries  of  iniquity.  Perhaps  my  let- 
ters are  too  much  pervaded  by  what  you  are  pleased 
to  call  "  a  silvery  thread  of  wit  which  is  unmistakably 
Irish ;"  but  I  have  long  ago  concluded  that  the  scaly 
hide  of  the  Beast  was  impervious  to  reason  and  argu- 
mentation, and  that  the  time  has  come  for  Wit,  and 
Ridicule,  and  Caricature  to  empty  upon  the  monster 
their  quiver  of  arrows.  There  are  some  things  too  ab- 
surd to  Avaste  reason  upon ;  there  is  a  point  beyond 
which  to  reason  is  casting  pearls  before  swine,  and 
where  we  must  answer  fools  according  to  their  folly. 
I  do  not  wonder  that  a  mind  so  seemingly  supersti- 
tious as  is  yours  should  pronounce  me  occasionally  pro- 
fane ;  but  perhaps  you  may  remember  the  story  of  Di- 
odorus  about  the  Roman  who  inadvertently  killed  a 
cat  in  Egypt,  one  of  the  gods  of  the  land.  So  exas- 
perated were  the  populace  that  they  ran  in  phrensy  to 
his  house,  and  neither  the  files  of  soldiers  drawn  up  for 
his  protection,  nor  the  terror  of  the  Roman  name,  could 
save  him  from  being  torn  to  pieces.  In  times  of  fam- 
ine, the  Egyptians  would  kill  and  eat  one  another  be- 
fore they  would  kill  an  ox,  a  dog,  an  ibis,  or  a  cat  I 
These  were  their  gods,  and  to  treat  them  otherwise 
than  with  the  most  profound  reverence  was  unpardon- 
able profanity  1 1 

I  accept,  .sir,  most  cheerfully,  the  offer  which  you 
make  to  prove  one  of  my  statements,  which  you  ques- 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  317 

Challenge  accepted.  The  conditions.  Olive  oil. 

tion,  a  fabrication,  by  a  formal  investigation,  on  one 
condition,  ^vhich  I  hope  you  will  have  the  sense  and 
courage  to  grant.  The  condition  is  this :  you  say  that 
you  do  transubstantiate  a  little  wafer  into  the  real  and 
true  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  and  that  you  do  this 
whenever  and  wherever  you  say  mass.  Now  "  I  am 
willing  to  go  to  any  reasonable  expense  to  prove  this  a 
fabrication,  if  either  you  or  any  other  bishop  or  priest 
have  the  courage  to  meet  me  in  a  formal  investiga- 
tion." This  will  incur  but  little  expense.  It  can  be 
done  at  St.  Patrick's,  or  at  St.  Peter's,  or  at  your  own 
house.  You  can  select  three  out  of  the  five  judges. 
"We  will  first  take  the  wafer  and  examine  it.  You  may 
then  say  high  and  low  mass  over  it,  and  take  it  through 
all  the  required  liftings  and  lowcrings  needful  to  tran- 
.substantiate  it,  and  if  it  is  not  the  identical  wafer  it 
was  when  we  put  it  into  your  hands,  then  we  will  sub- 
mit to  be  branded  as  blasphemers  ;  but  if  it  is,  we  will 
let  you  ofT  without  any  brand,  simply  as  an  impostor. 
The  offer  which  you  make  would  lead  to  a  sea-voyage, 
and  would  require  the  raising  of  the  dead,  and  would 
lead  to  some  cxpen.se  ;  but  this  can  be  done  in  a  day, 
and  I  will  agree  to  pay  the  bill.     Is  not  this  fair  ? 

If  you  reject  this  form  of  the  condition,  I  will  make 
another.  Your  olive  oil,  blessed  on  "  Maunday  Thurs- 
day,'' you  represent  as  possessing  M'ondcrful  cflicat^y 
when  rultbed  (»n  a  dying  sinner  according  to  law.  "  1 
am  willing  to  go  to  any  rca.sonablo  expense  i<t  prove 
this  a  fabrication,"  and  that  your  olive  oil,  under  these 
circumstances,  has  not  a  whit  greater  cflicacy  than 
whale  oil,  or  bear's  oil,  or  goo.sc  grease.     And,  again, 


318  KIR  WAN's     KEPLY 

Anxioua  (o  investigate-.  Advice.  Rude  assaults. 

I  will  leave  to  you  the  selection  of  three  out  of  five 
judges.  When  these  offers  are  accepted,  and  these 
questions  are  settled,  then  we  will  make  the  required 
arrangements  to  meet  the  challenge  which  you  throw 
out  to  myself  or  Mr.  Prime.  May  I  hope  to  hear  from 
you  as  soon  as  it  will  meet  your  convenience  after 
your  return  from  Halifax?  I  feel  quite  anxious  for 
these  investigations. 

In  case  you  should  resume  this  controversy  for  the 
third  time,  permit  me,  as  your  friend,  to  give  you  a 
few  words  of  advice.  I  assure  you  it  will  do  you  no 
harm  to  follow  it. 

1.  Keep  your  temper.  A  bishop  should  be  no  brawl- 
er- Gfood-nature  is  the  very  air  of  a  good  mind,  the 
sign  of  a  large  and  generous  soul,  and  the  soil  in  which 
virtue  prospers. 

2.  Remember  that  rude  assaults  upon  an  opponent 
do  not  refute  his  arguments.     You  grievously  com- 
plain of  them  in  your  own  case  ;  can  they  be  right  as 
to  me  ?     If  I  were  all  you  say  of  me,  and  as  much  be- 
yond that  as  that  is  beyond  the  truth,  that  would  not 
prove  true  the  absurdities  of  Romanism ;  that  would 
not  prove  that  you  can  create  God  and  forgive  sin,  or 
that  your  religion  is  any  thing  else  but  a  peacock  re- 
ligion, which  has  nothing  useful  or  attractive  about  it 
save  its  glittering  plumage.     It  is  only  the  lowest  kind 
of  mind  that  ever  goes  from  the  subject  to  the  man, 
and  it  is  only  the  resort  of  such  mind  when  it  i.s 
worsted. 

3.  Remember  that  what  you  write  may  possibly 
live  after  you  are  dead,  and  that  your  office  as  a  bish- 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  319 

Station  sustains  iioiio.  A  thought  to  be  known. 


op  gives  not  the  weight  of  a  feather  to  your  weak  ar- 
guments, wliile  it  renders  your  vulgarity  doubly  vul- 
gar. In  this  country  no  man  is  sustained  by  his  sta- 
tion ;  unless  he  graces  it,  he  disgraces  himself.  The 
person  who  raises  himself  to  station,  name,  and  influ- 
ence, is  worthy  of  double  honor ;  but  in  case  such  a 
person  should  rise  from  a  cabbage- garden  to  a  mitre, 
he  ought  to  know  that  the  hne  of  conduct  which  would 
not  particularly  dishonor  the  hoe  or  the  spade  would 
reflect  no  enduring  reputation  upon  the  crook  and  the 
crosier. 

Adherence  to  this  advice,  if  it  corrects  not  your 
principles,  will  have,  at  least,  a  benign  influence  on 
your  manners.     Farewell. 

Yours.  Km  WAN. 


320  KIR  wax's     IJKIM.Y 

Turning  lo  the  people.  Fair  play.  Many  blessed. 


LETTER   X. 

AN    APPEAL    TO    ALL    ROMAN    CATHOLICS. 

My  dear  Friends, — In  closing  these  letters,  as  with 
the  two  series  hitherto  published,  I  turn  from  Bishop 
Hughes  to  you.  Many  of  you  have  not  been  uninter- 
ested readers  of  my  letters,  nor  of  the  controversy,  so 
far  as  it  has  assumed  that  character,  between  Bishop 
Hughes  and  myself;  and  while  the  prejudices  of  edu- 
cation and  your  respect  for  official  station  would  nat- 
urally lead  you  to  take  sides  with  him,  I  am  thankful 
to  know  that  the  generous  impulses  of  many  of  you, 
and  your  desire  to  know  the  truth,  have  led  you  to  re- 
solve that  I  should  have  fair  play.  I  have  appeared 
before  you  with  no  crosses  before  my  name,  with  no 
ecclesiastical  titles  after  it,  making  no  flourish  of  trum- 
pets from  the  places  of  brief  authority,  and  with  the  one 
simple  desire  to  unfold  before  your  eyes  the  religious 
system  which  has  oppressed  your  fathers,  and  which, 
in  its  ceremonial  exactions,  has  become  too  heavy  for 
the  earth  any  longer  to  bear  ;  and  I  am  thankful  that 
.so  many,  educated  as  you  and  I  were  in  our  youth, 
have  been  led  by  these  letters  to  seek  the  religion  of 
Christ  and  of  the  Bible  among  Protestants  ;  and  while 
there  are  many  of  you  whose  minds,  through  priestly 
interferences,  have  been  so  imbued  with  prejudices  as 
to  repel  all  approach  to  you,  however  kind,  with  the 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  321 

Review.  Bishop  Hughes's  conduct.  Breaks  down. 

lamp  of  life  and  light,  yet  this  is  by  no  means  the  case 
with  you  all.  To  this  latter  class,  the  intelligent  and 
candid  of  your  number,  who,  in  this  free  land,  are  de- 
termined to  think  for  yourselves,  I  now  appeal. 

The  history  of  my  "  Letters  to  Bishop  Hughes"  is  a 
very  short  one.  While  yet  in  my  minority,  and  near- 
ly thirty  years  ago,  I  left  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
Motives  that  I  now  need  not  detail  led  me  to  write 
those  letters,  in  which  I  have  stated  the  reasons  which 
induced  me  to  give  up  the  religion  of  the  priest  for  that 
of  the  Bible.  To  these  letters  Bishop  Hughes  attempt- 
ed an  indirect  reply  in  ten  letters,  and  broke  down  in 
the  midst  of  the  discussion  at  the  commencement  of 
last  Lent.  As  the.se  had  nothing  in  them  to  answer 
my  objections  or  to  satisfy  your  inquiries,  you  asked 
for  something  else.  Hence  the  six  letters  entitled 
"  Kirwan  Unmasked,"  in  which,  after  abuse  without 
stint  or  .sense,  and  without  answering  one  solitary  ob- 
jection, he  again  breaks  down  at  the  close  of  the  sixth, 
and  flees  to  Halifax.  And  this,  my  third  series,  which 
I  now  bring  to  a  close,  is  designed  as  a  reply  to  those 
addressed  by  him  to  "  Dear  Reader,"  and  to  me,  Kir- 
wan. 

The  history  of  the  bi.shop  in  the  concern  is  about  as 
.short.  When  my  letters  first  a])p('arcd,  he  could  not 
condescend  to  answer  thnm  I  He  then  commenced 
answering  without  reading  them  ;  and,  without  meet- 
ing an  objection  stated  Ijy  inc.,  he  bmke  down  with 
the  tenth  letter.  When  goaded  by  Catholics  and  I'rot- 
estant.s  until  he  could  stand  it  no  longer,  ho  resolved 
on  a  direct  answrr  lo  niy  objections,  and  again  he 

O  ',1 


822  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  S     REPLY 

Flees  away.  His  culculatioii.  A  challenge. 

brolce  down  at  the  close  of  the  sixth  letter,  without  an- 
swering one  of  them.  Thinking  that  it  would  answer 
all  his  purposes  with  you  to  abuse  me,  he  writes  his 
six  wonderful  letters,  which  deserve  a  place  in  the  mu- 
seum as  a  specimen  of  the  controversial  taste  and  abil- 
ity of  popish  priests,  and  again  breaks  down,  and  flees 
beyond  seas  to  hide  the  shame  of  his  nakedness !  How 
high  his  calculations  on  the  strength  of  your  prejudices 
and  on  the  weakness  of  your  common  sense !  Having 
usurped  the  power  of  thinking  for  you,  he  takes  for 
granted  that  any  kind  of  episcopal  nonsense  will  satis- 
fy you ;  but  he  is  mistaken,  as  multitudes  of  you  de- 
clare that  his  silence  would  be  far  better  than  what 
he  has  said,  and  would  have  inflicted  less  injury  on 
popery  in  this  country.  One  of  the  most  intelligent 
of  your  number  has  been  heard  to  damn  him  for  not 
either  holding  his  tongue  or  doing  better. 

Such  being  the  history  of  the  letters,  look  for  a  mo- 
ment at  the  state  of  the  controversy.  There,  in  my 
first  and  second  series,  lie  my  objections  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  abused  from  Maine  to  Mexico,  but 
unanswered  ;  and  I  defy  Bishop  Hughes  and  all  his 
mitred  brethren  on  this  continent  to  answer  them  on 
scriptural  and  common-sense  principles,  or  on  any 
principle,  to  the  satisfaction  of  any  reasonable  man. 
The  bishop  has  published  ten  letters,  giving  his  rea- 
sons for  adherence  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
out  of  whose  pale  there  is  no  salvation.  These  reasons 
I  have  shown  to  be  mere  and  miserable  assumptions, 
and  utterly  insufficient  to  justify  the  faith  or  the  prac- 
tice of  any  living  man.     Bishop  Hughes  would  not  ask 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  323 

False  pretenses.  Defiance.  Achilles. 

your  note  for  a  dollar,  had  he  no  stronger  reasons  for 
asking  it  than  those  which  he  has  given  to  bind  you 
to  the  Catholic  Church ;  and  if  he  should  so  impose 
upon  you  as  to  secure  your  note  for  no  stronger  rea- 
son, you  might  sue  him  for  taking  from  you  your 
money  under  false  pretenses,  and  send  liim,  if  not  to 
Purgatory,  at  least  to  state  prison,  to  atone  for  his 
crime. 

Such,  then,  is  the  state  of  this  controversy.  There 
lie  my  objections  to  popery  unanswered.  Let  Bishop 
Hughes  answer  them  if  he  can.  There  are  his  rea- 
sons for  adherence  to  the  Catholic  Church  confuted. 
Let  him  reconstruct  his  argument  if  he  can.  And 
all  that  he  has  yet  done  is  to  abuse  me  in  a  way  un- 
becoming a  bishop,  for  first  riddling  his  building,  and 
then  taking  away  its  foundations.  And  because  the 
hopes  of  his  gain  are  gone,  he  and  his  priests,  were  it 
in  their  power,  would  serve  me  as  Paul  and  Silas  were 
served  at  Philippi  by  the  masters  of  the  damsel  out  of 
whom  they  cast  the  spirit  of  divination.  But  we  are 
in  a  free,  country. 

Roman  Catholics,  from  thi.s  man  and  his  miserable 
system  I  now  turn  to  you.  Read  the  ten  letters 
which  I  have  reviewed,  and  sec  how  weak  are  the  ar- 
guments for  popery.  Read  the  six  letters  addressed  to 
mo,  and  see  how  low  your  bishop  can  descend  I  If 
.John  Hughes  is  the  Achilles  of  ])opery  in  our  country, 
what  must  the  soldiers  under  him  be.  I !  And  will  you 
longer  sustain  a  religion,  the  strong  objections  to  which 
he  can  not  meet,  and  the  reasons  for  adherence  to 
which,  as  given  by  himself,  are  not  strong  enough  to 


324  K  I  R  W  A  N  '  s     u  i:  P  L  Y 

Turning  liis  back  twice.  A  close  corporation. 

hold  up  the  spider's  most  attenuated  web?  Behold 
him  twice  coming  to  the  rescue  of  your  Church,  and 
twice  turning  his  back  without  even  an  effort  to  spike 
a  single  gun  aimed  at  its  vitals !  Can  the  system 
which  he  can  not  defend  be  worthy  of  your  support  ? 
Can  the  captain  who  deserts  his  post  in  the  heat  of 
battle  be  worthy  of  the  commission  he  bears  ? 

Read  his  ten  letters,  if  their  dullness  will  permit 
you,  and  examine  their  principles.  What  an  argu- 
ment for  a  religious  despotism  of  the  most  grinding 
and  enduring  character !  The  Pope  is  the  successor 
of  Peter,  and  you  have  no  hope  of  heaven  but  in  con- 
nection with  the  Pope  !  Be  as  good,  as  pious,  as  char- 
itable, as  godlike  as  you  may,  you  are  out  of  the  way 
of  life  unless  you  submit  to  the  Pope,  and  then  to  all 
his  subalterns  !  You  have  no  right  to  form  an  opinion 
of  your  own ;  the  Pope,  bishops,  and  priests  are  ap- 
pointed to  think  for  you  !  Without  a  license,  such  as 
they  give  in  Ireland  for  selling  whisky,  you  have  no 
right  to  read  the  Bible ;  the  priests  will  do  that  for 
you,  and  tell  you  what  is  in  it  that  concerns  you  !  To 
Grod  your  Father  you  have  no  right  to  go,  save  through 
a  priestly  intercessor,  who,  for  a  fee  to  suit  your  cir- 
cumstances, will  transact  all  your  business  at  the  court 
of  heaven  I  All  you  do  you  must  tell  the  priest,  and 
thus  you  give  him  a  power  over  you  by  which  he  can 
whip  you  into  the  traces  whenever  you  dare  to  think 
for  yourselves !  If  the  letters  of  Bishop  Hughes  are 
true,  then  the  priests  of  the  papal  church  are  a  close 
corporation,  with  the  Pope  at  their  head,  Avith  the  keys 
of  life  and  death  in  their  hands,  and  through  whom 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  325 

How  it  dogs  you.  Consistency.  Riveting  chains. 

alone  Grod  exercises  spiritual  dominion  in  our  world  I 
What  a  fearful  despotism  is  this,  infinitely  more  op- 
pressive than  any  civil  despotism  which  has  ever 
cursed  the  world  I  It  meets  you  at  your  entrance 
into  life  ;  it  dogs  you  through  every  step  of  your  earth- 
ly pilgrimage ;  it  stands  by  you  at  the  hed  of  death, 
claiming  the  power  of  opening  heaven  to  your  soul 
when  it  escapes  from  its  clay  tabernacle,  or  of  locking 
it  up  in  hell !  From  the  cradle  to  the  grave  you  must 
only  do  as  it  ordains,  at  the  risk  of  all  the  vials  of  its 
\\Tath  !  And  this  is  popery — yes,  popery  as  advocated 
and  practiced  in  the  city  of  New  York  by  Bishop 
Hughes'.  With  what  noble  consistency  can  he  raise 
his  voice  in  Vauxhall  against  the  oppression  of  Ireland 
by  England,  and  subscribe  his  money  to  buy  a  shield 
for  the  back  of  the  sham  patriots,  who,  by  their  shame- 
ful blustering  and  cowardly  conduct,  have  made  Irish 
patriotism  a  subject  of  merriment  throughout  the 
world,  and  then  vindicate  a  code  of  religious  despot- 
ism in  comparison  with  which  that  of  Russia  is  free- 
dom ;  and  then  filch  from  the  pockets  of  the  poor,  ig- 
norant, credulous,  but  noble-hearted  and  generous 
Irish,  the  money  they  have  earned  with  the  sweat  of 
their  brow,  to  purchase  for  them  chains,  and  to  pay 
priests  for  riveting  them  on  their  limbs !  IIo.man  Cath- 
olics, will  yon  submit  to  a  despotism  which  thus  de- 
grades, dupes,  and  robs  you?  Irish  Ivo.man  C'Athomcs, 
so  eager  to  burst  the  chains  witii  whicli  England  has 
bound  the  land  of  our  fathers,  will  you  submit  to  wear 
a  yoke  like  this?  Sons  of  noble  sires,  whose  blood 
and  bones  fatten  and  whiten  everv  lirld  in  Ireland  Itv 


326  kirwan's   reply 

Serfs  ill  a  Tree  laiul.  Resolve  lo  be  lYec. 

struggles  to  break  the  British  yoke,  will  you,  in  a  land 
of  light  and  freedom,  like  Russian  serfs,  wear  a  collar 
like  this?  Will  you  permit  a  close  priestly  corpora- 
tion, without  any  sufficient  motive  save  to  increase 
their  corporate  property,  to  assume  over  you  the  power 
of  G-od,  and  to  bind  to  their  girdle  the  keys  of  heaven  ? 
to  enter  your  family,  and  to  regulate  your  meat  and 
your  drink  ?  if  a  servant  in  a  Protestant  family,  to 
place  you  there  as  a  spy,  and  to  forbid  you  enjoying 
its  religious  privileges?  to  think  for  you?  on  every 
hand  to  surround  you  with  infinitely  ramified  and  po- 
tent influences,  which  are  sleepless  in  their  efforts  to 
keep  around  your  neck  the  yoke  of  servitude,  and  to 
prevent  your  emancipation  into  that  liberty  with  which 
Christ  makes  his  people  free  ?  Thousands  in  this 
land,  and  tens  of  thousands  through  all  the  earth,  are 
casting  it  aside  as  too  heavy  longer  to  be  borne ;  will 
not  all  of  you  do  the  same  ?  Will  you  be  content  to 
be  slaves  in  a  country  of  freedom — slaves  to  papal 
priests,  the  most  degrading  of  all  slavery — when  it  is 
only  for  you  to  firmly  resolve,  and  you  are  at  once 
spiritually  as  you  are  civilly  free  ?  Fling  the  flag  of 
your  spiritual  freedom  to  the  free  winds  of  heaven, 
and  let  your  watchwords  be  God,  the  Bible,  Liberty, 
and  unborn  generations  will  rise  and  call  you  blessed. 
Irish  Roman  Catholics,  I  am  not  so  destitute  of  all 
sympathies  with  you,  and  with  our  fatherland  beyond 
the  waves  of  the  Atlantic,  as  Bishop  Hughes  would 
make  you  believe.  I  sympathize  with  you  here  in 
that  degradation  to  which  the  religion  of  the  priest  has 
reduced  you.     I  deeply  sympathize  with  our  lovely 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  327 

The  charge.  Conspiracy  or  wolves.  How  they  get  money. 

country  at  home  and  our  noble  countrymen,  so  deeply 
degraded,  and  mainly  by  the  same  cause.  I  renewed- 
ly  charge  upon  popery  the  low  social  level  to  which 
Ireland  has  been  reduced,  and  the  social  degradation  of 
her  children  in  all  the  lands  of  their  dispersion.  It  is 
popery  that  has  made  her  sons  and  daughters,  in  so 
many  instances,  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water ; 
and  my  sympathies  with  you  and  for  you,  more  than 
all  other  causes,  have  given  existence  to  these  letters. 
As  I  early  predicted,  the  bishop  rings  changes  on  my 
apostasy  ;  charges  me  with  desertion ;  leaves  the  ar- 
gument for  the  man ;  and  in  every  way,  save  by  rea- 
son and  argument,  seeks  to  vilify  my  name,  so  as  to  di- 
minish my  influence  with  you.  In  this  he  is  joined 
by  his  priests,  and  by  the  miserable  press  controlled  by 
him.  But  this  is  simply  the  conspiracy  of  the  wolves 
ravening  the  fold  to  induce  the  sheep  to  turn  a  deaf  ear 
to  the  voice  of  the  shepherd  who  sounds  the  alarm. 
Their  craft  is  in  danger,  and  hence  their  wrath.  I 
here  a.ssert  before  heaven  and  earth  that  you  are  griev- 
ously imposed  upon  by  your  priests  ;  that  for  the  sake 
of  your  money  they  daily  practice  upon  you  imjjosi- 
tions  such  as  should  brand  them  as  impostors ;  that, 
they  traffu;  in  .souls,  and  make  a  gain  of  godliness ; 
and  that,  instead  of  your  ven(;ration,  1h(^y  arc  worthy 
only  of  your  rejection.  And  for  tiie  evidence  of  all  this 
I  need  only  point  you  to  the  moneys  wliich  they  draw 
from  you  by  their  senseless  masses,  by  their  extreme 
unctions,  by  their  charms,  and  relics,  and  j)enancos, 
and  purgatorial  deliverances,  and  by  the  thousand  and 
one  ways  in  which  they  show  their  sympathy  for  tlie 


328  K  I  R  \\'  A  N  '  S     n  V.  V  L  V 

Hence  the  hue  and  cry.  If  an  infidel.  My  faith. 

sheep  Tby  fleecing  them  of  their  wool.  And  hence  the 
hue  and  cry  against  me  by  your  priests,  because  I 
plainly  and  fearlessly  tell  you  of  these  things. 

Nor  am  I,  Roman  Catholics,  the  profane  infidel  which 
your  bishop  would  make  me  out  to  be.  If  there  were 
no  alternative  for  me  but  to  believe  what  he  teaches,  I, 
would  be  again  compelled  to  shoot  the  gulf  of  infidel- 
ity, and  to  build  my  hopes  for  the  future  upon  the  dim 
twilight  instructions  of  natural  religion.  What  would 
I  not  believe  sooner  than  that  man  can  create  G-od  I 
But  even  were  I  an  infidel,  vulgar  as  Paine,  bitter  as 
Voltaire,  plausible  as  Gibbon,  would  that  be  any  rea- 
son why  my  objections  to  popery  should  not  be  answer- 
ed ?  Did  not  Porteus  answer  Paine  ?  Did  not  Camp- 
bell confute  Hume  ?  and  even  if  an  infidel,  why  should 
not  Bishop  Hughes  answer  my  objections  ?  The  rea- 
son is  not  in  my  infidelity,  but  in  his  inability.  He  is 
unable  to  answer  them.  He  has  tried  twice,  and  aban- 
doned the  task.  But  I  am  not  an  infidel.  I  believe  in 
the  Bible.  I  believe  in  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ. 
It  is  the  source  of  my  comforts  here,  and  the  founda- 
tion of  all  my  hopes  for  the  future.  I  believe  in  the 
divinity,  the  vicarious  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
in  the  efficacy  of  that  atonement  to  save  all,  vnthout 
money  and  without  price,  who  rest  solely  upon  it. 
"  He  that  believeth  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  if  there 
was  not  a  Pope  or  priest  upon  earth,  "  shall  be  saved." 
This  is  my  faith ;  and  it  is  to  this  simple,  efficacious 
faith — the  faith  of  the  prophets,  apostles,  martyrs,  fa- 
thers, confessors  of  all  ages  and  of  all  countries — of  the 


TO     BISHOP     HUGHES.  329 

Buy  the  truth.  Popery  and  Christianity.  Caged  tiger. 

true  catholic  Church  in  all  its  ministers  and  members, 
that,  in  my  soul,  I  desire  to  win  you. 

Truth,  and  not  mitres,  crosses,  unmeaning  ceremo- 
nies, priestly  vestments,  solemn  farces,  is  the  only  thing 
worthy  of  your  love  and  reverence.  Buy  the  truth, 
and  sell  it  not.  Dig  for  it  as  for  hid  treasures.  This 
is  the  pearl  of  great  price,  and,  if  necessary,  sell  all  that 
you  possess  to  purchase  it.  Popery  is  the  religion  of 
children,  of  low  civilization ;  Christianity  is  the  relig- 
ion of  men,  and  of  high  civilization,  where  the  virtues 
and  graces  most  flourish.  Dare  to  be  Christians. 
Your  attachment  to  popery  only  benefits  the  priest ; 
Christianity  will  enrich  yourselves.  Dare  to  be  Chris- 
tians. The  night  is  far  .spent ;  the  day  is  at  hand. 
0,  be  children  of  the  day.  Fear  God,  and  then  the 
wrath  of  the  priest  inspires  no  more  terror  than  do  the 
low  growlings  of  the  caged  tiger. 

Praying  with  all  prayer  for  your  deliverance  from 
the  degrading  and  grinding  despotism  of  popery,  and 
for  your  full  emancipation  into  the  glorious  liberty  of 
the  Gospel,  I  am,  with  all  the  sympathies  of  my  Irisli 
nature,  Yours,  Kir  wan. 


THE 


DECLIIE   or  POPERY 


AND  ITS  CAUSES. 


AN    ADDRESS 


DELIVERED    IN 


THE  BROADWAY  TABERNACLE 


)VEU\LSDAV  EVEMNIi.  J.WLAKY  15.  1S51. 


THE 


DECLINE   OF   POPERY,  ETC. 


Viewed  in  whatever  light,  the  setting  up  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  is  the  most  important  event  in  the 
world's  history.  It  was  the  introduction  of  a  new  ele- 
ment into  the  affairs  of  men  of  vastly  greater  power 
than  any  previously  known,  and  to  whose  influence 
there  could  be  no  bounds  but  those  of  the  race  and  of 
eternity.  At  the  point  of  time  where  the  lines  of  his- 
tory and  prophecy  met  and  blended,  Jesus  Christ  came 
into  the  world.  He  showed  his  estimate  of  human 
conditions  by  the  selection  of  one  of  poverty.  His  doc- 
trines were  the  most  pure,  simple,  and  sublime.  To 
show  that  he  came  not  on  any  political  errand,  or  to 
establi.sh  a  temporal  power,  he  declared  that  his  king- 
dom was  not  of  this  world  ;  and  he  warned  his  apos- 
tles not  to  confound  the  mission  on  which  he  sent  them 
with  the  powers  or  prerogatives  of  earthly  princes. 
Their  mission  was  not  to  govern,  but  to  teach ;  and 
their  authority  was  not  to  interfere  in  the  political  con- 
tests of  the  nations,  but  to  preach  .«<alvation  to  ail  men 
through  faith  in  a  erncified  Christ,  who  came  to  .seek 
and  to  save  the  io.st.  The  end  for  whicli  ihe  Church 
of  Christ  was  esta})iished  was,  })y  the  diffusion  of  truth, 
accompanied  by  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  bind 
all  men  in  love  to  one  another,  and  to  subdue  all  hearts 


334  Tll  !•;     DECLINE     O  I'     TOPE  R  Y 

into  obedience  to  Gfod.     This  was  the  subUme  mission 
of  the  Church,  and,  to  accomplish  it,  it  was  forbidden 
the  exercise  of  any  authority  save  that  of  its  virtues 
and  graces,  and  of  any  weapons  save  its  pure  and  sim- 
ple faith.     It  is  a  simple  institution  of  Grod,  with  one 
simple  end  in  view,  and  adapted  to  all  times,  nations, 
and  circumstances.     As  it  came  from  the  hand  of  its 
founder,  it  might  be  personified  as  a  cherubic  form  de- 
scending from  heaven  amid  the  children  of  men,  shed- 
ding around  her  a  healing  influence  on  all  the  moral 
diseases  of  society,  hushing  the  spirit  of  discord,  like  a 
new  sun  dispelling  the  moral  darkness  of  our  world, 
drawing  men  closer  to  one  another  by  drawing  them 
all  closer  to  Christ,  and  in  the  course  of  her  progress 
converting  earth  into  the  likeness  of  heaven.    And  had 
the  spirit  of  its  founder  remained  in  the  Church,  and 
had  there  been  no  great  apostasy  from  its  simple  faith 
and  worship,  long  ago  the  shout  would  have  been  raised 
from  the  earth  to  the  heavens,  and  would  have  been 
echoed  back  again  from  the  heavens  to  the  earth,  "  Hal- 
lelujah, salvation,  the  Lord  Grod  omnipotent  reigneth." 
And  how  has  the  Church  performed  its  mission? 
This  is  a  pregnant  question,  and  one  which  opens  up 
its  history  for  nearly  two  thousand  years  for  discussion. 
As  long  as  it  retained  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  followed 
the  example  of  his  apostles,  and  obeyed  their  instruc- 
tions, its  progress  was  gloriously  onward.     Its  influ- 
ence was  soon  felt  to  the  extremes  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire ;  and  long  before  the  last  of  the  apostles  of  Christ 
went  up  to  his  reward,  it  had  its  devoted  converts  even 
in  the  palace  of  the  Caesars.    Through  its  martyr  ages, 
when  the  Jew  and  the  Gentile,  the  philosopher  and  the 


AND     ITS     CAUSES.  335 

peasant,  the  bond  and  the  free,  the  refined  (jrecian 
and  the  barbarous  Scythian,  were  in  league  against  it, 
no  opposition  could  retard  its  progress.  The  fires  which 
consumed  its  martyrs  only  revealed  new  paths  to  more 
extended  fields  of  conflict  and  victory,  until  its  leaven 
of  divine  truth  had  reached  the  most  distant  nations, 
and  its  converts  were  found  among  all  ranks  and  con- 
ditions of  man, 

But  now  a  change  passes  over  the  scene,  the  result 
of  its  very  successes.  Almost  from  its  very  commence- 
ment the  Church  had  to  contend  with  heresies  which 
chiefly  involved  the  divinity  of  Christ.  These  were 
successfully  resisted ;  and  the  controversy  excited  a 
vast  enthusiasm  for  the  divinity  of  Christ,  and  a  pro- 
found reverence  for  every  thing  in  any  way  associated 
with  him.  And  when  Arianism,  as  a  vanquished  foe, 
was  retiring  from  the  conflict,  the  great  Deceiver 
changed  liis  hand,  and  converted  the  existing  zeal  and 
enthusiasm  for  the  deity  of  Jesus  Christ  into  powerful 
agents  for  perverting,  depraving,  and  undermining  the 
entire  system  of  Christianity.  And  it  is  here  we  date, 
so  far  forth  as  it  is  a  system  of  religious  doctrines,  the 
rise  of  popery,  which,  in  all  its  ages  and  pliases,  has 
been  the  banc  of  the  Church  and  the  curse  of  the  na- 
tions.     JJut  what  is  popery  ? 

The  discussion  whicii  secures  a  right  answer  to  this 
question  naturally  divides  itself  into  the  two  lioads  of 
doctrine  and  polity.  It  is  the  combination  (jf  these 
that  forms  the  .'^y.stem. 

As  a  system  of  doctrine,  it  is  clearly  and  fearfully 
deve]oj)e(l.  One  extreme  usually  begets  another ;  and, 
reverting  to  the  point  of  time  already  intimated,  we 


336  TIIK     DECLINE     OF     POPERY 

find  the  zeal  and  enthusiasm  excited  for  the  divinity 
of  Christ  passing  over  into  inordinate  veneration  for  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper ;  and,  for  its  defense, 
the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  was  invented,  that 
monster  absurdity,  and  the  pantomime  of  the  mass 
was  enacted.  A  great  rage  arose  for  any  thing  and 
every  thing  associated  with  his  memory ;  and  reUcs 
were  collected  with  incredible  industry,  such  as  pieces 
of  the  cross,  and  pictures  of  his  person,  and  pieces  of 
his  garments,  reverence  for  which  soon  grew  into  idol- 
atrous worship,  to  excuse  which  the  doctrine  of  rela- 
tive worship  was  invented,  or  rather  borrowed  from  the 
heathen.  As  superstition  advanced  in  strength,  it 
passed  over  from  Christ  to  his  friends  and  followers; 
and  hence  the  multiplications  of  saints  and  saints' 
days ;  and  soon  reverence  for  the  saints  grew  into  ad- 
oration. And  thus  the  apotheosis  of  heathenism  was 
introduced.  And  to  excuse  this,  the  doctrine  of  saint- 
ly intercession  was  invented,  on  the  plea  that  sinners 
themselves  were  unfitted  to  make  any  request  of  God. 
With  these  corrupt  doctrines  came  in  corrupt  prac- 
tices, such  as  forbidding  to  marry,  forbidding  of  meats, 
and  the  commanding  of  corporeal  austerities.  And,  to 
recommend  all  this,  the  doctrine  was  invented  that 
these  practices  made  satisfaction  for  sin,  and  were  mer- 
itorious of  heaven.  And  lest  this  might  seem  to  dero- 
gate from  the  satisfaction  of  Christ,  sins  were  divided 
into  mortal  and  venial.  As  venial  sins  deserve  not 
eternal  death,  and  as  men  might  die  before  performing 
the  necessary  penance  to  remove  them,  Purgatory  was 
invented,  where  penance  for  venial  sins  might  be  com- 
pleted.    And  as  punishment  in  Purgatory  is  not  eter- 


AND     ITS     CAUSES.  o37 

nal,  and  as  souls  sent  there  might  be  redeemed  by  the 
good  works  of  others,  the  doctrine  of  works  of  superer- 
ogation was  invented.  The  good  deeds  of  men,  over 
and  above  those  necessary  for  their  own  salvation,  were 
laid  up  in  the  treasury  of  the  Church,  and  were  sold 
out  to  such  as  were  willing  to  purchase  them.  This 
was  by  far  the  most  profitable  doctrine  of  popery. 

These  tenets,  artfully  linked  together  into  a  gi*eat 
chain,  forged  for  the  purpose  of  binding  the  soul  at  the 
feet  of  the  priest,  were  quietly  received  in  those  days 
of  darkness ;  and  the  darlcness  was  cherished  by  the 
locking  up  of  the  Scriptures  from  the  people,  and  by 
the  inculcation  of  an  implicit  faith.  And  in  case  that 
terrible  book  should  be  unlocked  and  brought  out  from 
under  the  double  .seal  of  a  dead  language  and  a  bad 
tran.slation,  the  fictions  were  invented  of  an  unwritten 
tradition,  without  whose  interpretations  the  Bible  was 
imperfect ;  and  an  infallible  judge,  without  which  both 
tradition  and  Scripture  were  unsafe  guides.  Thus  did 
the  devil,  .starting  on  the  high  wave  of  zeal  and  enthu- 
siasm for  the  glory  of  Christ,  build  up  the  doctrinal 
Babel  of  popery,  the  foundation  of  which  is  laid  in  hell, 
whose  top  reaches  unto  heaven,  and  whose  dark  shad- 
ow has  stretched  from  shore  to  shore. 

Tn  the  most  favorable  light  in  which  it  can  be  view- 
ed as  a  doctrinal  system,  po|)ery  is  the  merest  carica- 
ture of  Christianity.  Its  ritual  is  addres.sed  to  the  eye, 
and  its  whole  worshij)  is  a  ludicrous  pantomime,  in 
which  the  priests  are  the  actors,  and  the  altar  the 
stage,  and  the  ignorant  attendants,  not  knowing  what 
they  worship,  the  spectators.  Popery  and  Christianity 
are  just  as  opposite  as  is  the  tnitli  ;iimI  its  caricature. 

P 


338  THE     DECLINE     OV     POPERY 

That  you  may  sec  this,  take,  for  instance,  the  doc- 
trine of  Christ  crucified  for  the  sins  of  men,  and  as 
making  atonement  to  the  law  and  justice  of  God  for 
all  that  believe  on  him.  It  is  one  that  lies  upon  the 
face  of  the  Scriptures.  And  see  how  popery  caricatures 
it.  The  doctrine  of  the  cross  gives  way  to  the  image 
of  the  cross,  which  is  perched  on  the  summit  of  its 
churches,  and  is  braided  on  the  backs  of  its  priests, 
and  paraded  before  its  bishops ;  and  to  the  sign  of  the 
cross,  which  is  regarded  as  possessing  a  talismanic  in- 
fluence against  evil  spirits  ;  and  to  that  most  unmean- 
ing of  all  mummeries,  the  mass,  in  which  the  tragedy 
of  Calvary  becomes  an  unmeaning  and  loathsome  farce. 
The  truth  is  gone,  and  naught  but  its  caricature  re- 
mains. 

Take,  again,  the  doctrine  of  the  intercession  of 
Christ  as  our  Mediator  with  the  Father.  There  is 
nothing  more  plainly  taught  than  that  he  is  the  only 
mediator  between  Grod  and  man.  And  yet  his  work 
is  forgotten,  and  his  mediation  is  thrown  into  the  shade 
by  the  mediation  of  Mary,  and  Peter,  and  Paul ;  the 
holy  martyrs,  virgins,  and  widows;  the  holy  monks 
and  hermits  ;  the  holy  doctors,  bishops,  and  confessors, 
some  of  whom  were  men  of  G-od,  and  many  of  whom 
were  men  of  Belial — some  of  whom  were  ornaments 
of  the  Church  militant,  and  are  now  wearing  their 
crowns  in  the  Church  triumphant,  and  many  of  whom 
were  "  wizards  and  jugglers,  the  Mesmers,  and  Fausts, 
and  Merlins  of  the  ages  of  moral  and  intellectual  dark- 
ness." Of  the  true  and  only  mediation  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  millions  of  popery  know  as  little  as  Chinamen.  The 
truth  is  gone,  and  naught  but  the  miserable  caricature 
remains. 


AND     ITS     CAUSES.  339 

Take,  again,  the  doctrine  of  regeneration.  How 
plainly  docs  the  Bible  teach  that  we  must  he  horn 
agaui !  And  this  consists  in  the  renewal  of  our  moral 
nature  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  through  the 
instrumentality  of  the  truth.  And  this,  all  this,  is  ef- 
fected by  the  papal  baptizer.  There  stands  the  robed 
priest,  and,  as  the  subject  for  baptism  approaches  him, 
he  blows  thrice  in  his  face  to  drive  out  Satan.  Ho 
then  puts  blessed  salt  into  his  mouth.  Then  the  priest 
puts  his  spittle  on  his  ears  and  nose ;  then  he  is 
anointed ;  then  he  is  baptized  ;  then  holy  chrism  and  a 
wliite  cloth  are  put  upon  his  head  ;  and  then  a  lighted 
candle  is  placed  in  his  hand.  And  then  he  is  regen- 
erated I  And  this  is  the  only  regeneration  known  to 
the  system  of  popery  ;  and  its  heaviest  anathemas  are 
poured  out  upon  those  who  would  deny  that  this  mis- 
erable exorcism,  misnamed  baptism,  fails  to  confer  the 
grace  which  it  signifies ! 

These  we  give  as  specimens  of  the  doctrinal  system ; 
and  they  are  the  best  that  we  could  adduce,  and  the 
most  favorable  to  the  system.  It  has  not  left  a  doc- 
trine or  sacrament  of  the  Church  in  its  native  simplic- 
ity. It  has  virtually  annulled  the  Sabbath  by  its  holy 
days,  and  the  worship  of  (Jod  by  the  worship  of  saints, 
and  tiio  work  of  Clirist  by  the  works  of  merit,  and  the 
work  of  the  Spirit  by  the  manipulations  of  its  j)ri('sts, 
and  the  word  of  God  by  first  corrupting  it,  and  then 
withholding  it  from  the  people.  There  is  not  a  truth 
in  the  system  which  is  not  clouded  by  some  error,  or 
which  is  not  cast  into  the  shade  by  some  towering  su- 
perstition, where  it  can  only  maintain  a  sickly  exist- 
ence.    Such  is  the  dfjctrinal  di  imnj  of  pciprry. 


340  1"  a  i;    D  i;  ij  1/1  N  E    u i-    v  o  v  i;  k  y 

And  equally  unscriptural  is  its  polity,  by  which  wc 
mean  its  external  organization.  While  the  Savior 
teaches  that  his  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  the  ob- 
ject of  popery  in  every  age  has  been  to  make  it  so.  As 
to  the  external  organizatiozi  of  the  Church,  every  thing 
in  the  New  Testament  is  perfectly  simple.  Not  a 
word  is  said  about  prelates,  patriarch,  cardinals,  or 
popes,  or  about  the  duty  of  implicit  obedience  to  them. 
There  is  a  government  enjoined,  but  it  is  as  free  and 
as  simple  as  one  can  well  conceive,  while  popery  is  as 
despotic  and  pompous  as  one  can  well  imagine.  And 
as  it  has  no  foundation  in  the  Scriptures,  the  question 
arises,  Whence  came  it  ?  This  question  is  easily  an- 
swered. 

As  the  Church  advanced  in  age,  numbers,  and 
wealth,  it  gradually  lost  the  martyr  spirit  of  its  found- 
ers After  Constantine  put  on  the  purple,  and  for  rea- 
sons of  state  embraced  Christianity,  its  corruptions 
rapidly  increased.  The  Church  was  brought  into  an 
alliance  with  the  state,  an  alliance  which  has  always 
worked  mischief  to  both.  Its  government  was  model- 
ed, after  the  imperial,  into  great  prefectures,  of  which 
Rome,  Alexandria,  Antioch,  and  Constantinople  were 
the  chief,  while  a  sort  of  feudality  was  established,  de- 
scending from  patriarchs  to  metropolitans,  archbishops, 
bishops,  and  priests,  some  with  greater,  and  some  with 
less  power  and  dominion.  As  each  grasped  for  more 
than  belonged  to  him,  the  world  became  convulsed 
with  their  feuds  and  their  wars.  In  these  feuds,  Rome, 
as  the  ancient  metropolis  of  the  world,  and  as  the  city 
where  the  martyrs  shed  their  blood  like  water,  had 
greatly  the  advantage.     Its  bishop,  by  fraud  and  du- 


AND     ITS     CAUSES.     '  341 

plicity,  obtained  the  pre-eminence  over  his  brethren. 
The  state  courted  the  influence  of  the  Church  to  assist 
in  maintaining  its  authority,  and  the  Church  sought 
the  influence  of  the  state  in  extending  its  ghostly  do- 
minion. Each  yielded  to  the  request  of  the  other. 
The  Church  rapidly  extended,  and  the  ambition  of 
priests  conceived  the  idea  of  governing  it  after  the 
model  of  the  state.  Rome  must  be  the  centre  of  eccle- 
siastical as  of  civil  power.  The  state  had  its  Caesar, 
the  Church  must  have  its  Pope.  Cffisar  had  his  sen- 
ate, the  Pope  must  have  his  cardinals.  Caesar  had  his 
governors  of  provinces,  the  Pope  must  have  his  patri- 
archs and  archbishops.  The  governors  had  their  sub- 
ordinates, and  these  again  theirs,  down  to  the  lowest 
office  in  the  state.  The  patriarchs  and  archbishops 
had  their  subordinates,  and  these  again  theirs,  down 
to  the  very  lowest  office  in  the  Church.  As  in  the 
.state  all  civil  power  emanated  from  Cccsar,  and  all  dis- 
putes were  finally  referable  to  him,  so  in  the  Church 
the  Pope  was  the  source  of  all  authority,  and  the  final 
judge  in  all  disputes.  Thus  the  Bishop  of  Rome  be- 
came the  Cffisar  in  the  Church  ;  metropolitans  and  j)a- 
triarchs  were  transmuted  into  proconsuls ;  bishops  into 
magistrates ;  the  nominally  Christian  Church  into  a 
kingdom  of  this  world,  and  its  ministers  into  an  army 
of  spiritual  janizaries,  depending  for  their  authority  and 
support  n|)on  <ho  Pope,  and  sworn  to  execute  his  infal- 
lible will.  Thus  "the  wicked"  was  fully  revealed. 
The  Roman  em  pi  re  has  long  since  passed  away  ;  ages 
atro  its  mangled  limbs  were  strewn  over  earth  and 
ocean;  bnt  in  the  ccclcsiasticnl  organization  called 
popery,  we  have  the  living  model  of  that  form  of  gov 


342  THE     DECLINE     OF     POPERY 

crnment  l>y  which  the  Caesars  bound  the  nations  to 
their  thrones,  and  by  which  they  were  enabled  to  crush 
at  the  extremes  of  the  world  every  effort  to  break  the 
yoke  of  servitude.  It  is  an  ecclesiastical  despotism, 
fashioned  with  great  exactness  after  the  civil  despotism 
of  the  Csesars.  Because  of  the  vitality  of  the  religious 
clement  which  it  contains,  it  has  long  survived  its  mod- 
el, but  it  is  among  the  things  that  must  go,  and  is  go- 
ing, the  way  of  all  the  earth. 

Such,  then,  is  the  system  of  doctrine,  and  such  is 
the  pohty,  which,  when  vmited,  form  the  papacy,  or 
the  Church  of  Rome.  In  polity,  it  is  a  pure  despot- 
ism ;  in  doctrine,  it  is  a  bad  caricature  of  Christianity ; 
in  worship,  it  is  far  more  heathen  than  Christian.  The 
growth  and  the  blending  of  these  two  systems  were 
the  slow  product  of  ages ;  but,  when  completed,  the 
sun  which  had  risen  over  Judea  set  at  Rome,  and  the 
nations  were  at  the  mercy  of  its  universal  bishop. 

But  how  came  the  Pope  a  temporal  prince  ?  Partly 
by  donations  from  sovereigns  in  whose  favor  they  ex- 
erted their  ghostly  power ;  mostly  by  fraud,  of  which 
the  Vatican  and  the  Lateran  have  ever  been  the  arse- 
nal and  the  manufacture.  Who  has  not  heard  of  the 
Decretals  of  Isidore?  This  forged  and  false  legend 
narrates  that,  in  reward  for  his  healing  from  leprosy 
and  his  regeneration  by  baptism  by  the  Bishop  of  Rome, 
Constantino  resigned  to  Sylvester  and  his  successors 
in  office  the  free  and  perpetual  sovereignty  of  Rome, 
Italy,  and  the  Western  provinces.  Emperors,  kings, 
and  people  were  incapable  of  detecting  the  fraud  which 
subverted  their  rights  and  freedom,  and  the  forgery 
was  received  in  the  East  and  West  with  equal  rever- 


AND     ITS     CAUSES.  343 

ence,  and  is  still  enrolled  among  the  decrees  of  the  can- 
on law.  By  this  vile  forgery  the  Pope  was  made  at 
once  the  successor  of  Peter  and  of  Constantine,  and,  in 
addition  to  his  spiritual  power,  was  invested  with  the 
purple  and  the  prerogatives  of  the  Caesars.  This  base 
forgery,  proved  to  be  so  by  papal  writers,  is  the  found- 
ation of  the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope.  And  while 
]X)pes  themselves  smile  at  the  credulity  which  sanc- 
tioned it,  they  yet  permit  a  false  and  obsolete  title  to 
sanctify  their  reign.  "  By  the  same  fortune  which  has 
attended  the  Decretals  and  the  Sibylline  oracles,  the 
edifice  has  subsisted  after  the  foundations  have  been 
removed." 

At  this  juncture,  the  way  to  universal  dominion  was 
wide  open  to  the  Pope.  The  deepest  ignorance  per- 
vaded the  masses  of  the  people.  Deluded  by  legends, 
and  false  miracles,  and  vile  impostures,  they  wore 
grassly  superstitious.  With  few  exceptions,  the  world 
was  governed  by  weak  and  contending  princes,  who 
fell  an  easy  prey  to  the  wiles  of  cunning  ecclesiastics. 
Western  Europe  was  parceled  out  among  archbishops 
and  bishops,  who,  in  palaces,  equipage,  and  power, 
were  the  rivals  of  princes.  These  had  their  parishes, 
and  parishes  their  jiriests,  whose  influence  was  every 
where  felt  among  the  people.  Thus  the  power  of  the 
Pope  was  every  wliere  felt,  and  became,  for  obvious 
reasons,  the  Cf)ntrolling  power.  The  old  Jewish  cus- 
tom of  anointing  kings  was  revived,  and,  validly  1o 
rule,  they  must  be  instituted  by  the  Pope.  IIiiil(!])r!iii(l 
arose  and  gained  tlnj  variant  cliair  of  Ht.  Peter.  Tlic 
f)pposition  hitherto  made  against  papal  usurjKiliMii 
yielded  before  his  amazing  energy  and  irnn  will.     I'dw- 


344  THE     DECLINE     OF     POPERY 

ers  hitherto  only  desired  and  sought  he  openly  declared 
to  be  Ills  by  divine  right.  He  asserted  his  power  to 
be  supreme  in  the  Church  and  in  the  state  ;  and 
thenceforNvard,  according  to  the  canons,  as  says  South- 
ey,  "  the  Pope  was  as  far  above  all  kings  as  the  sun  is 
greater  than  the  moon."  Ho  was  king  of  kings  and 
lord  of  lords,  though  he  subscribed  himself  the  servant 
of  servants.  The  immediate  and  sole  rule  of  the  world 
belonged  to  him  by  natural,  moral,  and  divine  right, 
all  authority  depending  upon  him.  As  supreme  king, 
he  might  impose  taxes  on  all  Christians,  and  it  was  de- 
clared, as  a  point  necessary  to  salvation,  that  every  hu- 
man being  should  be  subject  to  him.  That  he  might 
depose  kings  was  averred  to  be  so  certain  a  doctrine, 
that  it  could  only  be  denied  by  a  madman,  or  through 
the  instigation  of  the  devil.  The  head  of  the  Church 
was  vice-Grod,  and  men  were  commanded  to  bow  at 
his  name,  as  at  the  name  of  Christ.  The  proudest 
sovereigns  waited  on  him  like  menials,  led  his  horse  by 
the  bridle,  and  held  his  stirrup  when  he  alighted  ;  and 
there  were  embassadors  who  prostrated  themselves  be- 
fore him,  saying,  "  0  thou  that  takest  away  the  sins 
of  the  world,  have  mercy  on  us."  And  here  we  reach 
the  very  culminating  point  of  popery,  when  kings  were 
its  vassals — when  crowns  were  its  playthings — when 
kingdoms  were  its  gifts — when  its  enemies  were  all 
.subdued — when  its  word  was  law  in  the  state  and  in 
the  Church,  from  the  Straits  of  G-ibr altar  to  the  North 
Cape,  and  from  the  interior  of  Hungary  to  the  western 
.shores  of  Ireland. 

And  has  this  power,  of  such  monsti'ous  usurpation 
and  pretension,  had  no  decline  ?     This  question  we  can 


AND     ITS     CAUSES.  345 

best  answer  by  a  brief  comparison  of  the  present  with 
the  former  state  of  some  of  those  nations  over  which 
its  authority  was  once  supreme.  We  begin  with  good 
old  England. 

We  select  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
when  John  was  king  in  England,  and  when  Innocent 
III.  was  Pope.  The  question  of  investiture  was  not 
yet  fully  settled,  and  the  see  of  Canterbury  becoming 
vacant,  the  king  and  the  Pope  had  each  his  candidate. 
The  election  devolved  on  a  few  weak  monks,  and  In- 
nocent ordered  them,  on  the  pains  and  penalties  of  ex- 
communication, to  elect  his  man.  They  remonstrated, 
but  finally  obeyed.  And  the  Pope,  sensible  of  his  fla- 
grant usurpation,  sought  to  soothe  the  inflamed  spirit 
of  the  king  by  a  present  of  four  gold  rings,  whose  value 
ho  desired  to  enhance  by  informing  him  of  the  myste- 
ries concealed  in  them.  But  the  insulted  monarch 
would  not  be  so  easily  cajoled,  and  he  opposed  the  elec- 
tion of  Langton  with  great  violence.  The  Pope  exhort- 
ed him  not  to  oppose  Grod  and  the  Church,  and  threat- 
ened the  interdict,  his  great  instrument  of  policy  and 
vengeance  during  the  Middle  Ages.  John  pjsrsisted, 
and  the  awful  interdict  was  declared.  And  .suddenly 
the  nation  was  deprived  of  all  the  exterior  exercises  of 
religion  :  the  altars  were  deprived  of  their  ornaments ; 
the  crosses  and  statues  of  the  saints  were  laid  on  the 
ground  ;  the  priests  covered  them,  lest  the  polluted  air 
should  injure  them ;  the  bulls  ceased  to  ring,  and  wvm 
taken  from  the  steeples  and  laid  on  the  ground  ;  no 
rites  were  administered  save,  ba|)fism  to  infants  ;iii(l 
the  wafer  to  th(!  dying;  grave-yards  wen;  closed,  .-uid 
the  dead  were  thrown  into  ditches,  or  buried  in  the 

PS 


346  THE    DECLINE     OF     POPERY 

open  field  ;  the  rites  of  marriage  were  performed  only 
in  grave-yards ;  meat  was  prohibited ;  the  people  were 
forbidden  to  shave,  or  to  salute  each  other  in  the  street. 
The  execution  of  the  interdict  was  so  ordered  as  in  the 
highest  degree  to  strike  the  senses,  and  to  operate  with 
force  on  a  superstitious  people.  Such  was  the  awe 
with  which  this  interdict  filled  the  nation,  that  it  seem- 
ed to  the  people  as  if  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  had 
withdrawn  a  great  portion  of  their  light,  and  as  if  the 
very  air  was  stagnating  around  them ! 

But  King  John  braved  the  interdict,  and  retaliated 
upon  the  bishops  and  priests.  And  next  came  thun- 
dering from  the  Vatican  the  sentence  of  excommuni- 
cation. Then,  then  the  monarch  began  to  feci  the 
misery  of  his  state.  No  civil  or  military  officer  could 
serve  under  an  excommunicated  king,  and  he  was  left 
without  support.  But  yet  he  struggled  on.  Next 
came  the  bull  absolving  his  subjects  from  their  obedi- 
ence, and  excommunicating  all  that  should  hold  any 
commerce  with  him  in  public  or  private.  Although 
this  filled  his  cup  of  sorrow,  yet  he  resolved  to  struggle 
on,  but  finally  yielded  on  the  threat  of  deposition,  and 
passed  a  charter,  in  which  he  resigned  England  and 
Ireland  to  Grod,  Saint  Peter,  and  the  Pope. 

Comparing  England  then  with  England  now,  when, 
for  a  comparatively  harmless  exercise  of  authority,  the 
Pope  is  burned  in  effigy,  and  is  every  where  denounced 
as  a  contemptible  and  doting  tyrant,  and  when  its  no- 
ble prime  minister  scoffingly  scouts  his  impertinent 
interference,  we  ask,  Is  there  no  decline  in  popery? 
The  empire  which  John  gave  to  Innocent  has  been 
rescued  from  his  successors,  and  is  the  open  and  no- 


AND     ITS     CAUSES.  347 

blest  antagonist  of  the  Vatican  in  the  earth.  Although 
in  her  established  Church  there  is  an  admixture  of  the 
popish  with  the  Protestant  element,  yet  England  is 
profoundly  and  piously  Protestant. 

We  now  turn  to  France,  beautiful,  chivalric,  and 
versatile,  and  select  the  period  when  Raymond  was 
Earl  of  Toulouse.  A  dispute  arose  between  him  and 
the  Pope  out  of  the  persecutions  instituted  by  Rome 
against  the  Albigenses.  He  was  refractory,  and  was 
excommunicated.  The  legate  of  the  Pope  succeeded 
in  raising  an  army  against  him,  through  the  fear  of 
which,  and  the  desertion  of  his  own  people,  he  was  led 
to  purchase  absolution  on  the  most  humiliating  condi- 
tions. He  deUvcred  up  his  castles,  divested  himself 
of  his  sovereignty,  and  suffered  himself  to  be  taken  to 
the  church  of  St.  Gilles  with  bare  back  and  a  rope 
about  his  neck,  and  submitted  to  bo  scourged  around 
the  altar  I 

And  what  must  be  our  conclijsion,  comparing  France 
then  and  now,  as  to  the  power  of  pojiery?  Between 
that  time  and  this,  other  thunders  of  excommunication 
have  rolled  over  the  Alps  and  have  fallen  upon  this 
kingdom.  Within  our  own  day  one  was  fulminated 
against  Napoleon,  but  its  sounds  died  away  in  the  air, 
and  the  Corsican  sent  his  holiness  to  prison  for  his  im- 
pertinence. And  now,  while  nominally  jiapal,  it  is 
really  infidel,  and  Voltaire  and  Sue  more  than  divide 
the  empire  with  Pio  Nono.  And  it  is  not  love  for  the 
Pope,  nor  veneration  for  popery,  but  a  dread  of  Austrian 
encroachments,  that  has  induced  Republican  soldiers 
to  un.sheathe  their  swords  for  the  protection  of  the  ty- 
rant of  the  Vatican.  And  again  wo  ask,  Is  there  no 
decline  in  popery? 


348  THE     DECLINE     OF     POPERY 

Shall  we  next  advert  to  G-ermany,  the  cradle  of  so 
much  that  is  glorious  in  the  history  of  man  ?  We  se- 
lect the  period  when  Henry  was  emperor  and  Gregory 
VII.  was  pope.  Henry  refused  to  surrender  the  an- 
cient right  of  investiture,  and  he  was  insolently  order- 
ed to  Rome  to  answer  for  his  crimes.  He  returned 
insult  for  insult ;  and,  in  a  fit  of  vindictive  phrensy, 
Hildehrand  thundered  his  anathemas  at  the  head  of 
the  prince,  excommunicated  him,  deposed  him  from 
the  throne  of  his  ancestors,  and  dissolved  the  oath  of 
allegiance  of  his  subjects.  He  was,  in  consequence, 
deserted  by  his  princes  and  people ;  and,  advised  by 
his  friends,  he  went  to  Rome  to  sue  for  mercy.  He 
crossed  the  Alps  amid  the  rigors  of  winter,  and  reached 
Canusium,  where  the  sanctimonious  pontiff  resided 
with  Matilda,  the  most  tender  and  loving  of  all  the 
daughters  of  the  Church.  The  emperor  was  admitted 
without  his  guards  into  an  outer  court  of  the  castle, 
where  he  stood  for  three  successive  days  in  the  open 
air,  with  bare  feet,  and  head  uncovered,  and  with  only 
a  wretched  piece  of  woolen  cloth  thrown  around  him 
to  cover  his  nakedness.  He  was  admitted  on  the  fourth 
day  into  the  presence  of  his  holiness,  who,  with  great 
reluctance,  gave  him  absolution. 

Here  we  have  in  picture  before  us  the  supremacy 
which  popery  once  wielded  in  Germany;  but  how  is 
it  now  ?  Great  events  have  occurred  in  G-ermany 
since.  There  Luther  found  and  read  the  Bible.  The 
art  of  printing  was  there  discovered.  The  claims  and 
doctrines  of  popery  have  there  been  discussed  by  great 
and  earnest  minds.  There  the  battles  of  the  Reforma- 
tion were  fought,  and  the  Thirtv  Years'  War  whitened 


AND     ITS     CAUSES.  349 

and  fattened  all  its  fields  with  the  bones  and  blood  of 
the  slain ;  and  from  these  wars  Germany  came  forth 
free  and  independent ;  and  at  the  present  hour  (save 
dotard  Austria,  whose  recent  Hungarian  barbarity 
should  cast  it  beyond  the  pale  of  civilized  nations)  Ger- 
many is  Protestant.  When  Celestine  had  completed 
the  ceremony  of  coronating  the  son  of  Barbarossa,  in 
.Saint  Peter's,  as  Emperor  of  Germany,  he  raised  his 
foot  and  kicked  off  the  crown  which  he  had  placed  on 
his  head,  to  show  that  he  had  the  power  of  taking 
away  as  well  as  of  conferring  imperial  dignity.  Such 
an  indignity  in  our  day  would  induce  even  priest-rid- 
den, benighted  Austria  to  send  down  her  butcher  Hay- 
naii  to  hang  up  Pio  Nono  as  a  sacrifice  to  her  ven- 
geance. Nor  would  all  Italy  furnish  a  brewer  to  beard 
him  for  so  doing.  And  again  we  ask.  Is  there  no  de- 
cline in  popery  ? 

Shall  we  next  advert  to  Ireland,  greenest  isle  of  the 
ocean,  where  a  double  despotism,  political  and  relig- 
ious, pressing  upon  its  people  for  centuries,  has  been 
unable  to  cool  the  ardor  of  their  hearts  or  to  quench 
the  brightness  of  their  intellect  ?  It  remained  in  the 
quiet  and  peaceful  enjoyment  of  its  religion,  although 
often  convulsed  by  internal  discord,  after  its  conversion 
to  Christianity,  until  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  of  England. 
Adrian,  an  Hnglishnian,  was  then  Pope ;  and,  to  gain 
politi(;al  f!n(ls,  he  gave;  Iniland  over  into  the  hands  of 
llcnry,  and  annexed  it,  by  public  decree,  to  Enghind. 
This  decree  was  subse(|uently  ratified  ])y  Pope  Alex- 
ander, on  two  condition.s:  first,  that  Henry  should 
"  convert  the  bestial  men  over  to  the  faith  ;"  and,  .sec- 
ond, that  he  .'<hould  |)ay  tl)e  tax  of  a  penny  for  each 


350  THE     DECLINE     OF     POPERY 

hearth  in  the  kingdom  to  the  Holy  See,  and  collect  it 
from  the  })cople.  This  was  the  "  Peter's  Pence,"  so 
called  from  the  fact  that  it  was  collected  on  the  festi- 
val of  Saint  Peter.  Hero  is  the  springhead  of  all  Ire- 
land's woes.  Henry,  in  obedience  to  the  Pope's  de- 
cree, invaded  Ireland  as  his  bloody  missionary,  bound 
her  in  papal  chains,  and  laid  her  at  the  foot  of  the  En- 
glish throne ;  and  there  she  has  lain  until  this  day, 
bleeding  and  groaning  in  her  misery,  and  all  through 
the  arrogance,  and  perfidy,  and  policy  of  the  Pope  ! 

Her  people  fell  soon  an  easy  prey  to  the  seductions 
of  Rome.  Ignorant  and  superstitious,  they  were  led 
easily  to  adopt  a  faith  which  in  its  rites  bore  so  near  a 
resemblance  to  those  of  their  ancient  Druidism.  When 
Henry  YIIL  sought  to  introduce  his  reformation  into 
Ireland,  he  was  vigorously  opposed  by  the  clergy  and 
the  people,  who  insisted  that  "  the  holy  island"  belong- 
ed only  to  the  Pope ;  and  the  Vatican  thundered  its 
anathemas  against  all  who  should  obey  their  sovereign, 
or  who  should  fail  to  defend  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope 
in  things  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual.  And,  subse- 
quently, encouraged  by  Charles  and  his  popish  queen, 
and  their  superior  priests,  that  awful  massacre  of  the 
Protestants  was  perpetrated  by  the  papists,  the  narra- 
tive of  which,  even  at  this  remote  period,  can  not  bo 
read  without  a  chill  of  horror. 

And  what  is  the  state  even  of  Ireland  now  ?  To  be 
sure,  its  masses  are  the  adherents  of  popery  ;  and  that 
the  pope  and  his  priests  should  permit  those  masses, 
for  nearly  ten  centuries,  to  remain  in  "  bestial"  igno- 
rance, the  victims  of  the  most  gross  deceptions,  forms 
an  argument  against  the  system  which  all  can  see  and 


AND     ITS     CAUSES,  351 

feel.  But  the  mind  of  Ireland  is  Protestant,  Its  in- 
dustry, its  commercial  enterprise,  its  literature,  is  Prot- 
estant. The  people  are  refusing  any  longer  to  be  driv- 
en as  sheep  before  the  priests.  Protestantism,  long 
neglectful  of  its  mission  to  that  people,  has  entered 
upon  its  work.  Its  benign  influence  has  already  reach- 
ed even  the  wilds  of  Conemara.  The  pope  is  alarm- 
ed, and  he  has  sent  liis  rescript  against  the  Queen's 
College.  The  bishops  are  alarmed,  and  hence  their 
recent  synod  at  Thurles.  Feeling  that  Ireland  needs, 
at  this  crisis,  a  stronger  guardian  saint  than  is  he  un- 
der whose  patronage  it  has  reposed  for  ages,  the  sages 
of  Thurles  have  absolutely  deposed  good  old  Saint  Pat- 
rick, and  have  elected  the  Virgin  Mary  in  his  place. 
And  again  we  ask.  Is  there  no  decline  in  jiopery  ? 

But  we  will  pass  over  the  other  nations  of  Europe, 
as  to  which  statements  similar  to  these  could  be  made, 
briefly  to  consider  the  state  of  Italy  itself.  There,  for 
twelve  centuries,  popery  has  been  in  power.  There  is 
the  fabled  chair  of  .Saint  Peter ;  there  is  the  centre  of 
unity ;  there  is  the  person  and  court  of  the  pope  ;  there 
the  people  have  been  cloyed  and  stupefied  for  ages 
with  priestly  processions  and  splendid  masses — with 
fea.sts  and  fa.sts — with  holy  days  and  carjiivals ;  there 
the  Muses  have  been  bribed  to  lend  their  nid  1o  priest- 
ly devices ;  and  Sculpture  and  Painting  have  lavished 
tlieir  magic  power  to  give  such  life,  and  beauty,  and 
brilliancy  to  the  creations  of  superstition,  as  to  ravish 
and  carry  captive  the  senses.  And  while  the  Italian 
neck  has  ftften  Mt  the  galling  of  the  papal  yoke,  and 
the  Italian  people  often  manifested  that  it  was  difllcult 
to  bear  it,  yet,  of  all  the  countries  upon  the  earth, 


352  THE     DECLINE     OF    POPERY 

there  popery  has  been  the  most  securely  intrenched. 
It  has  had  the  moulding  of  the  mind  and  the  con- 
science of  the  people,  and  of  every  institution  of  the 
country,  and  without  let  or  hinderance.  Surely  here, 
if  any  where,  we  should  find  the  evidences  of  strong 
life,  and  the  pulsations  of  a  strong  and  living  heart. 
But  what  are  the  facts  in  the  case  ?  Take  away  the 
priests  and  their  dependents,  and  there  is  not  a  city  in 
Europe  where  the  Pope  and  his  minions  are  more  sin- 
cerely contemned.  But  a  few  brief  months  ago,  un- 
der the  pretense  of  retiring  for  devotion,  he  withdrew 
from  his  friends,  changed  his  garments  for  those  of  a 
servant,  and,  after  putting  a  lady  into  the  carriage,  as- 
cended to  the  box  of  the  coachman,  and  thus  fled  from 
Rome  to  Graeta.  And  why?  His  papal  subjects 
would  have  reformation  in  the  state  and  in  the  Church, 
And  did  they  invite  back  the  father  of  the  faithful  ? 
Far  otherwise.  Feeling  like  singing  a  Te  Deum  for 
their  blessed  deliverance,  they  organized  a  free  govern- 
ment ;  and  that  government  was  only  yielded,  and  the 
Pope  was  only  permitted  to  return,  at  the  mouth  of 
French  cannon  and  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  of  a 
French  soldiery.  And  Pius  IX.  and  his  cardinals  arc 
only  protected  from  expulsion,  and  perhaps  from  death, 
by  the  jealousy  of  other  nations,  who,  fearing  the  in- 
fluence of  a  Roman  republic  on  the  surrounding  king- 
doms, and  knowing  that  the  balance  of  power  in  Eu- 
rope would  be  greatly  changed  if  any  of  the  great 
powers  should  gain  possession  of  the  Peninsula,  have 
wickedly  resolved  to  compel  the  old  Romans  to  sub- 
mit to  the  government  of  the  triple  crown.  If,  at  this 
hour,  the  Italian  people  could  freely  express  themselves, 


AND     ITS     CAUSES.  353 

we  fearlessly  assert  that  the  majority  of  them  would 
triumphantly  declare  themselves  against  popery.  They 
have  even  done  it  as  it  is.  And  why  not?  What 
have  they  ever  received  from  it  hut  degradation  ? 
When  the  traveler  in  search  of  the  fields  and  scenes 
rendered  classic  by  the  muse  of  history  finds  a  man 
and  a  mule  yoked  together  in  the  same  harness,  and 
driven  by  the  same  goad,  then  he  knows  for  a  certainty 
that  he  has  entered  the  States  of  the  Churcli !  And 
what  can  popery  or  its  priests  expect  but  indignant  re- 
jection at  the  hands  of  a  noble  people  that  they  have 
so  deeply  degraded  ? 

If  additional  ])roof  is  needed  of  the  decline  of  this 
spiritual  power,  we  would  point  to  the  present  state  of 
papal  countries.  Spain  and  Portugal  are  claimed  as 
paj)al  countries,  but  to  what  extent  are  they  so  ?  There 
i.s  an  external  submission  to  the  claims  of  popery,  but 
the  masses  of  the  people  are  nearer  a  savage  than  a 
civiUzed  state,  and  are  at  least  as  much  pagan  as 
Christian.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  states  of 
South  America,  and  of  every  state  within  the  bounds 
of  nominal  Christendom  from  which  the  Protestant  el- 
ement has  been  excluded.  Tlic  picture  of  one  is  the 
picture  of  all.  There  is  no  Bible  among  the  people ; 
no  instruction  on  the  Sabbath ;  no  preaching  of  the 
Go.spel ;  no  schools  for  the  lower  classes ;  no  kce})ing 
holy  of  the  .'seventh  day.  The  mumljling  of  masses, 
the  parading  of  the  Host,  the  ringing  of  convent  bolls, 
and  the  tlitting  about  of  lazy  and  vicious  monks  rind 
friars,  midtitudrs  <i(  whom  have  (ktd,  like  .Io;ib,  jo  \\ir, 
altar  from  the  jiursuit  of  justice,  and  who,  under  a 
cowl  and  cassock,  are  twofold  more  the  children  of  sin 


354  THE     DECLINE     OF     POPERY 

than  they  were  before — these,  these  are  the  only  means 
of  instruction,  in  the  things  of  God,  enjoyed  by  the 
people ;  and  the  upper  third  of  the  entire  population 
think  no  more  of  going  to  the  confessional  or  to  a  mass- 
house  than  you  or  I  think  of  repeating  the  absurd 
"  Litany  of  our  Lady  of  Loretto,"  so  piously  recom- 
mended to  the  faithful  by  our  friend  of  Saint  Patrick's. 
And  the  piety  of  the  priesthood  in  these  countries  is 
about  on  a  par  with  that  of  the  sanguinary  pope  who, 
when  he  ordered  some  of  his  refractory  bishops  and 
subjects  to  the  torture,  walked  bareheaded,  reading 
his  missal,  within  hearing  of  their  dying  groans.  In 
no  portions  of  the  earth  is  popery  so  low,  so  declining, 
so  utterly  destitute  of  vitality  as  in  those  countries 
where  the  people  know  no  other  form  of  religion. 
There  it  is  as  dry,  fruitless,  and  withered  as  is  a  forest 
thi-ough  which  the  winds  of  twenty  winters,  iinsepar- 
ated  by  a  solitary  spring  or  summer,  have  whistled ; 
or,  to  change  the  figure,  in  those  countries  it  is  like 
unto  a  bladder  once  blown  to  its  full  extension,  but 
now  dry,  beyond  the  power  of  holy  oil  or  water  to  soft- 
en, and  rent  beyond  the  power  of  priests  to  patch  up, 
and  utterly  incapable  of  a  new  inflation.  Ignorance 
and  superstition  are  its  only  supports,  and  it  will  as 
certainly  fall  before  the  advances  of  light  and  truth  as 
did  Dagon  before  the  ark  of  God. 

But  is  there  no  life  at  all  in  the  system  ?  There  is. 
Wliere,  then,  is  it  to  be  found?  Not  within  the  an- 
cient metropolis  of  the  world,  whose  fallen  columns, 
decaying  arches,  and  tottering  walls  are  but  the  types 
of  popery  throughout  the  earth  ;  not  in  stupid  Austria, 
nor  in  mocking  France,  nor  in  debauched  Spain,  nor 


AND     ITS     CAUSES.  355 

in  the  feeble,  conflicting,  and  semi-savage  states  of  our 
southern  hemisphere,  but  amid  Protestant  institutions, 
where  an  open  Bible,  a  free  press,  freedom  of  discus- 
sion, an  intelligent  Christian  ministry,  and  the  general 
prevalence  of  knowledge,  compel  its  priests  to  culti- 
vate external  decency,  to  preach  to  the  people,  and  to 
defend  it  as  best  they  can.  Hence,  while  in  purely 
papal  countries  the  superstition  has  reached  the  years 
of  its  dotage,  and  is  laboring  under  the  multiplied  in- 
firmities that  attend  the  close  of  a  dissolute  life,  there 
is  a  reviving  of  its  ancient  spirit  of  adventure  and  bold 
imposture  in  Britain  and  the  United  States.  The 
starving  papal  Irish  are  pouring  into  England,  and,  to 
keep  them  together,  a  cardinal  and  a  new  batch  of 
bi.shops  was  deemed  necessary.  The  papal  nations  of 
Europe  are  pouring  in  their  surplus  population  on  us 
in  torrents,  and,  to  prevent  their  uniting  with  our  peo- 
j)lc  as  do  the  rivers  with  the  ocean,  bishops  and  arch- 
bishops arc  multiplied.  But  all  will  not  do.  True,  a 
few  dreamy  Puscyites,  who  sigh  after  the  return  of  a 
theocracy  and  of  a  visible  unity,  and  who  judge  of  re- 
ligion as  many  silly  people  do  of  men,  by  the  clothes 
which  they  wear  and  their  pretensions,  have  gone  to 
Rome.  Some  of  them,  like  Father  Ignatius,  should 
have  gone  to  an  asylum.  And  this  is  made  the  occa- 
sion of  fcfiljlo  and  fallacious  harangues  on  the  decline 
of  Protestantism.  But  all  this  is  simi)ly  Iho  whistling 
of  timid  boys  when  passing  a  gi-ave-yanl  of  n  dnrk 
night.  The  object  is  to  rhrrr  up  tlu^ir  drooping  spirits, 
and  to  prevent,  by  raising  false  issues,  the  enlighten- 
ing, elevating,  converting,  anil  assimilating  in/lncnco 
of  Protestantism  on  the  masses  of  the  faithful.     Where 


356  T  II  i;     D  E  C  L  I  N  K     OF     POP  E  U  Y 

one  returns  to  Rome,  there  are  one  hundred  that  de- 
sert it. 

Such  being  the  evidence  of  the  dechne  of  popery  in 
all  the  earth,  we  have  hut  a  few  words  to  say  as  to  its 
causes. 

One  of  these  causes  is  the  circulation  of  the  Bible. 
Somehow  or  other  it  has  become  an  article  of  the 
popular  faith,  that  the  will  of  Grod,  as  revealed  in  the 
Bible,  is  the  foundation  of  all  true  religion.  What  the 
Bible  teaches  is  true ;  what  it  does  not  teach  is  a  doc- 
trine of  men,  and  obedience  to  it  is  will  worship.  And 
to  teach  contrary  to  the  Bi  ble  is  to  rob  Grod  of  his  au- 
thority as  legislator,  and  usually  ends  in  robbing  man 
of  the  privileges  secured  to  him  by  the  true  religion. 
Hence  the  importance  of  the  circulation  of  the  Bible, 
that  all  may  know  whether  they  are  taught  the  true 
religion,  or  whether  they  are  imposed  upon  by  old 
wives'  fables. 

How  strange  and  strong  the  impre.ssions  made  upon 
the  mind  of  an  intelligent  papist  by  a  careful  reading 
of  the  Bible !  As  he  turns  from  page  to  page,  he  is 
amazed  that  he  should  have  been  so  duped  as  to  re- 
ceive as  the  religion  of  G-od  the  teachings  of  popery. 
With  his  Bible  open  in  his  hand,  he  goes  to  a  priest 
with  questions  such  as  these :  Your  reverence,  does  the 
Church  teach  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  and  anathe- 
matize all  who  do  not  receive  it  as  a  true  and  whole- 
some doctrine  ?  Certainly,  is  the  reply.  Tell  me, 
then,  what  does  this  mean:  "Peter's  wife's  mother 
was  laid,  and  sick  of  a  fever  ?"  And  what  do  these 
passages  mean :  "  A  bishop  must  be  the  husband  of 
one  wife,  having  his  children  in  subjection  ;"  "  let  the 


AND     ITS     CAUSES.  357 

deacons  he  the  husbands  of  one  wife  ?"  If  Pope  Peter 
had  a  wife,  why  should  not  Pio  Nono  ?  If  bishops  and 
deacons  are  commanded  to  have  wives,  why  would  it 
be  wrong  in  your  reverence  to  have  one  ?  And  what 
can  he  say  ? 

Again  he  asks.  Does  the  Church  teach  the  doctrine 
of  confession  of  the  people  to  the  priest  ?  Certainly, 
is  the  reply.  Tell  me,  then,  what  does  this  passage 
mean :  "  Confess  your  faults  one  to  another  ?"  I  have 
often  confessed  to  you :  come,  kneel  down  and  confess 
to  mc.     And  what  can  he  say  ? 

And  these  we  give  as  specimens  of  the  way  in  which 
the  reading  of  the  Bible  leads  men  every  where  to  the 
rejection  of  all  that  is  peculiar  to  popery,  and  leads 
them  over  to  the  broad  and  elevated  platform  of  Prot- 
estantism. And  do  you  wonder  that  popery  is  declin- 
ing in  all  the  earth,  wlien  you  remember  that  the  Bi- 
ble is  now  translated  into  upward  of  two  hundred  lan- 
guages and  dialects,  and  is  circulated  among  all  peo- 
ple ?  And  do  you  wonder  at  the  opposition  of  popish 
priests  to  the  Bible  ?  They  know  that  it  exposes  their 
fraud ;  and  while  they  smile  at  the  circulation  of  the 
works  of  Voltaire,  and  Rousseau,  and  Tom  Paine,  they 
follow  the  Bible  colporteur,  and  make  a  bonfin;  of  Ihc 
bo(jks  which  he  .scatters.  An  illustration  of  all  this 
we  fmd  in  the  recent  popular  movement  at  Rome. 
When  tiic  i'opc  fled  the  city,  the  Jiiblc  entered  it,  and 
was  circulated  liy  thou.sands ;  when  tiic  Popo  returned, 
the  Biijle  had  to  flee,  and  those  who  put  it  into  circu- 
lation were  punished  with  a  deeper  severity  than  were 
tlinsc  who  manned  the  walls  and  nobly  faced  the  al- 
lied forces  collected  by  the  father  of  the  failiifnl  for  the 


358  THE     DECLINE     OF     POPERY 

murder  of  his  children.  But  fill  eirorts  to  arrest  its 
circulation  are  in  vain  ;  as  well  might  they  attempt  to 
arrest  the  sun  m  the  career  of  its  glorious  way.  And 
as  surely  as  light  is  the  death  of  darkness,  will  the 
circulation  of  the  Bible  be  the  death  of  popery. 

Another  of  these  causes  is  the  increasing  intelligence 
of  the  race.  Ignorance  is  the  soil  where  the  principles 
of  popery  attain  their  most  magnificent  growth.  This 
may  be  seen  by  a  glance  at  the  moral  map  of  the 
world.  The  more  intense  the  ignorance,  the  more  in- 
tense the  popery ;  and  intense  popery  will  soon  pro- 
duce intense  ignorance.  For  illustration,  we  point  you 
to  Spain,  Portugal,  Italy,  Mexico,  and  to  poor,  unhappy 
Ireland.  And  before  the  increasing  intelligence  of  the 
masses,  popery  retires  as  do  the  mists  of  the  morning 
before  the  rising  sun.  We  are  willing  to  make  great 
allowance  for  the  influence  of  early  training ;  but  no 
man  must  ask  us  to  believe  that  any  intelligent  mind 
can  believe  in  the  absurdities  of  popery.  Hence, 
when  relieved,  in  this  country,  from  the  external  press- 
ure of  priestly  intolerance,  the  better  informed  even  of 
the  Irish  peasantry  smile  when  told  that  the  Pope  can 
not  err ;  that  his  power  is  supreme  in  the  Church ; 
that  the  efficacy  of  a  sacrament  depends  upon  the  in- 
tention of  the  administrator  ;  that  the  priest  can  grant 
an  absolute  and  judicial  absolution  from  sin ;  that  he 
can  convert  a  little  flour  wafer  into  God,  and  then  eat 
him  ;  and  that  all  but  papists  are  excluded  from  heav- 
en. They  are  aware  that  their  Church  teaches  some- 
thing upon  these  subjects  that  they  do  not  fully  un- 
derstand, and  which  Protestants  reject ;  but  the  more 
correct  your  version  of  them,  the  more  convinced  are 


AND     ITS     CAUSES.  359 

they  that  you  are  making  fun  of  their  religion ;  and 
when  convmced  that  such,  in  truth,  are  the  doctrines 
of  their  Church,  they  desert  it ;  and  it  is  in  this  way 
that  thousands  in  this  and  other  lands  are  now  desert- 
ing it.  When  the  primer,  and  the  spelling-book-,  and 
the  Bible  have  found  their  way  into  all  the  earth,  tlie 
days  of  popery  will  be  at  an  end ;  and  hence  the  op- 
position of  the  Vatican  to  all  schemes  for  educating 
the  masses. 

Another  of  these  causes  wo  find  in  the  fooleries  of 
popery.  Let  it  not  be  for  a  moment  believed  that  the 
ridiculous  and  absurd  legends  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
forged  by  monks  for  the  edification  of  the  faithful,  arc 
repudiated  by  the  papists  of  our  day.  They  are  re- 
produced and  circulated  in  papal  countries  for  the  ben- 
efit of  devout  minds.  Have  we  not,  in  our  own  day, 
legends  as  absurd  as  the  miracles  wrought  at  the  tomb 
of  Beckct — as  the  fountains  opened  by  Augustin — as 
8aint  Patrick's  turning  old  Rius  into  a  blooming  youth, 
and  setting  ice  on  fire — as  Saint  Mocha  restoring  to 
life  some  stags  after  the  fiesh  was  picked  from  their 
bones,  and  sending  them  into  the  woods — as  Saint  Groar 
hanging  his  cape  on  a  sunbeam  —  ;is  Saint  l^'echin 
causing  the  sun  to  stand  still — as  the  crows  making 
an  apology  to  Saint  Cuthbcrt  for  carrying  away  some 
of  the  thatch  of  his  house,  and  bringing  him  some  pork 
as  a  jicace-ofTering — as  Saint  Bcrach  causing  willow- 
trees  to  bear  apples — as  Saint  Cuana  jjassing  over  a 
lake  on  a  (iag-stonf;  ?  Do  any  of  thf se  lying  wonders 
surpass  in  absurdily  the  yearly  li(|uefactifm  of  the 
lilood  of  Saint  .lannarins  at  Naples,  or  ihc  holy  rolx; 
of  Treves,  or  the  winking  Madonna  of  Bimini  ?    When 


360  T in:   decline    op    p o p e k y 

men  commence  thinking,  they  can  not  and  they  will 
not  stand  these  absurdities.  Their  indignation  will  be 
as  high  as  the  impositions  to  which  they  were  subject- 
ed were  base  ;  and  they  will  cast  off  with  scorn  their 
priestly  deceivers,  and  they  will  tread  beneath  their 
feet  the  dogmas  and  the  emblems  of  a  superstition  as 
gross  as  any  that  God  has  ever  permitted  to  live.  See 
the  effect  already  of  the  holy  robe  of  Treves  !  It  has 
led,  and  is  yet  leading,  men  by  thousands  to  desert 
popery.  And  such,  also,  must  be  the  effect  of  the  hoax 
at  Rimini.  Burning  indignation  is  very  apt  to  succeed 
the  discovery  of  gross  deception.  Hence  we  wonder 
not  when,  on  the  flight  of  the  Pope,  the  populace  went 
into  the  Roman  churches,  and  brought  out  their  con- 
fessionals, and  crosses,  and  crucifixes,  and  piled  them 
up  in  the  street  for  a  bonfire.  And  papal  priests 
throughout  the  earth  should  read  in  this  event  the 
foreshadowing  of  their  doom.  As  long  as  they  can 
keep  the  nations  in  intellectual  childhood,  they  may 
amuse  them  with  bawbles,  and  cause  them  to  under- 
stand, speak,  and  act  as  children ;  but  so  certainly  as 
they  rise  to  manhood,  they  will  put  away  childish 
things. 

Another  of  these  causes  is  the  despotism  of  popery. 
The  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  was  among  the  most  philo- 
sophic and  far-seeing  statesmen  of  his  day.  He  often 
gave  utterance  to  the  following  pregnant  sentence  : 
"  Popery  and  slavery,  like  two  .sisters,  go  hand  in  hand. 
Sometimes  the  one  goes  first,  and  sometimes  the  other ; 
but  when  popery  enters,  slavery  will  soon  follow." 
And  the  truth  of  this  is  abundantly  illustrated  in  the 
history  of  the  nations.     The  people  it  makes  slaves  to 


AND     ITS     CAUSES.  361 

the  king,  and  the  king  a  slave  to  the  Church.  It  has 
sometimes  taken  sides  with  the  people  against  their 
rulers,  but  then  it  was  to  subdue  the  rulers  to  its  yoke ; 
and  when  it  has  taken  sides  with  rulers  against  the 
people,  it  was  because  the  people  commenced  panting 
after  the  possession  of  their  natural  rights.  But,  whcth- 
OY  it  sided  with  })rinces  or  with  people,  it  has  ever  had 
but  one  object  in  view,  the  putting  of  its  yoke  on  the 
neck  of  both. 

By  the  very  nature  of  its  constitution  and  claims, 
])opery  is  adverse  to  free  institutions,  and,  in  proof,  we 
appeal  to  the  history  of  the  world  and  to  its  history. 
Where  on  earth  has  it  ever  been  ascendant  without 
throwing  its  folds  around  civil  institutions,  and  crush- 
ing them,  as  the  fabled  serpents  from  the  ocean  crush- 
ed the  sons  of  Laocoon?  And  who  has  ever  resisted 
its  encroachments  without  ."^baring  the  fate  of  the  priest 
•  »f  Apollo?  Question  the  nations  of  the  earth  as  to 
this  matter.  Ask  Portugal,  the  country  of  Dionysius, 
of  John  II.,  and  of  Do  Gama,  what  has  made  her  what 
she  is,  and  .she  will  point  to  her  swarming  priests,  to 
her  mendicant  orders,  to  their  grasping  avaric(!  and 
minute  exactions — to  that  all-pervading  papal  iiillii- 
ence  which  crushes  every  thing  on  which  it  falls.  Aslc 
Spaiti  what  has  extingtiished  her  spirit  of  chivalry,  de- 
graded her  mind,  paralyzed  her  power,  and  rffhK'cd 
her  from  ]\rr  f)nce  proud  eminence  to  a  state  so  low- 
that  there  is  none  to  do  her  reverence,  and  the  l^'ibro 
will  cry  to  the  (Tua(lal(|nivir,  find  the  Strait.s  of  (i  ibral- 
tar  to  the  Bay  of  liis('ay,  popery.  Ask  bleeding  Ire- 
land what  has  eonvcrted  its  noble  people  into  beggars, 
and   sown   its   fertile   fields  with    snlt,  and   kreps  lier 


362  THE     DECLINE     OF     POPERY 

swarming  millions  in  Egyptian  darkness,  and  it  will 
return  the  same  answer,  popery.  Why  are  Mexico 
and  South  America,  with  the  glorious  example  of  our 
republic  before  them,  what  they  are  ?  Every  time  the 
Genius  of  Liberty  seized  his  trumpet  to  call  up  the  peo- 
ple to  the  assertion  of  their  rights,  popery  has  wrung  it 
from  his  grasp.  The  malign  influence  of  popery  upon 
civil  institutions  is  its  direct  and  necessary  influence. 
When  it  acts  out  its  heart,  it  has  but  one  way  of  act- 
ing, and  that  is  in  the  direct  line  of  despotism. 

That  this  is  so,  is  plain  from  the  events  but  of  yes- 
terday, and  from  others  that  are  now  transpiring. 
When  the  Romans  asked  a  constitutional  government 
from  the  Pope,  he  refused  it.  When  he  fled,  they  es- 
tablished a  repubUc  ;  and  the  old  tyrant  invited  the  al- 
lied armies  of  France,  Austria,  and  Spain  to  abolish 
the  repubhc,  to  quell  the  spirit  of  freedom,  and  to  re- 
store him  to  his  throne  and  his  triple  crown.  And  for 
conduct  far  less  base  than  that  of  Pio  Nono,  the  Con- 
gress of  1776  declared  the  King  of  England  to  be  a 
"  prince  whose  character  was  marked  by  every  act 
which  may  define  a  tyrant ;"  and  while  the  papists  of 
our  own  land  were  singing  tlieir  hosannas  to  democra- 
cy, and  were  raising  money  to  assist  the  Irish  in  their 
resistance  to  British  rule,  yet,  from  the  archbishop 
down  to  the  most  ignorant  thumber  of  beads  before  the 
pictures  of  the  saints,  they  denounced  the  citizens  of 
Rome  for  declaring  themselves  free,  for  dethroning  the 
most  arbitrary  despot  in  Europe,  and,  as  if  ashamed  to 
go  to  God,  they  overwhelmed  the  Virgin  with  entreat- 
ies that  she  would  restore  him  to  his  despotic  chair. 
And  not  only  so,  but,  by  reviving  the  "  Peter  pence," 


AND     ITS     CAUSES.  363 

they  sent  from  free  America  tens  of  thousands  of  dol- 
lars to  put  bullets  into  French  and  Austrian  cannon 
for  the  purpose  of  battering  down  the  newly-erected 
citadel  of  Roman  liberty  I 

And  when  the  sympathy  of  all  free  hearts  was  flow- 
in<]f  toward  Hunsfary  in  its  recent  but  fruitless  struEfirle 
for  independence,  and  when  the  free  earth  rang  with 
aspirations  for  the  success  of  Kossuth  and  his  noble 
compatriots,  that  free  rising  and  its  noble  leader  were 
denounced  at  Rome  as  bitterly  as  at  Vienna,  and  by 
papists  in  New  York  in  language  as  atrocious  as  the 
most  hopeless  Legitimist  could  utter.  The  freedom  of 
Hungary  would  not  subserve  the  purposes  of  popery, 
and  it  must  abide  in  its  chains.  Where  this  system 
can  not  rule,  it  will  ruin.  Power  is  its  religion  ;  des- 
potism is  its  creed ;  and  when  you  attempt  to  remon- 
strate with  it,  it  will  answer  you  as  did  the  confessor 
of  the  Queen  of  Spain  a  nobleman  who  set  himself  in 
opposition  to  him.  "  Sir,"  said  the  haughty  and  blas- 
phemous prelate  to  the  old  Castilian,  "  sir,  you  should 
fear  and  respect  the  man  who  every  day  has  your  God 
in  his  hand  and  your  queen  at  his  feet." 

This  charactori.stic  of  popery  is  raj)idly  rising  to  the 
view  of  all  men ;  and  as  it  rises  into  light,  all  free 
hearts  arc  rejecting  the  .system.  On  this  ground  alone, 
within  a  few  years,  it  has  been  rejected  by  the  city  of 
Rome — by  multitudes  in  Italy  and  Germany — by  mill- 
ions in  I'rance ;  and  just  in  the  proportion  that  the 
spirit  of  freedom  pervades  Iho  carlh,  will  popery  be  re- 
jected where  it  exist.'*,  and  its  extension  bo  opposed 
where  it  exists  not. 

The  last  of  the  causes  which  we  shall  name  is  the 


304  T  u  \:    D  i;  f  i,  i  n  i:    o  i-    pop  k  r  v 

rapidly  increasing  and  extending  inllucnce  of  Protest- 
antism. It  is  true  that,  since  the  Reformation,  Prot- 
estantism has  not  done  for  the  nations  all  that,  under 
other  circumstances,  it  would  have  done.  It  has  iwt 
converted  Franco.  But  why  ?  Let  the  murders  of 
St.  Bartholomew's  Day,  and  the  awful  butcheries  which 
succeeded  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  an- 
swer. It  has  not  converted  Italy.  But  why  ?  Let 
the  history  of  the  Reformation  in  Italy  answer.  It 
has  not  converted  Spain.  But  why  ?  Let  the  history 
of  the  Inquisition  answer.  It  has  not  converted  the 
masses  of  Ireland.  But  why  ?  Let  the  awful  Irish 
massacre  of  1641,  instigated  by  the  priests,  and  the 
bitter  prejudices  they  have  kept  alive  since  among  the 
people,  answer.  Popery,  in  its  treatment  of  Protest- 
ants, has  become  the  synonym  of  inhumanity. 

Nor  has  Protestantism  done  what  it  might.  In  some 
countries  it  has  been  encumbered  with  state  connec- 
tions ;  in  others  it  has  declined  from  the  true  faith ;  in 
others  it  has  lost  its  first  love ;  in  all,  it  has  been  too 
neglectful  of  its  great  mission,  which  is  to  Christianize 
and  civilize  the  world.  But  a  brighter  day  has  risen 
upon  it. 

Yet  Protestantism  reckons  as  its  followers  nearly  one 
half  the  number  that  popery  claims  as  its  adherents ; 
and,  although  numerically  one  half  less,  in  all  the  great 
elements  of  character  and  progi'css  it  is  vastly  its  su- 
perior. In  wealth,  in  enterprise,  in  rational  liberty,  in 
literature,  in  commerce,  in  all  the  elements  of  political 
and  moral  power,  Protestant  are  to  papal  nations  as  the 
sun  and  moon  in  the  heavens  are  to  the  fixed  stars. 
That  you  may  see  this,  blot  from  the  map  of  Europe 


AND     ITS     CAUSES.  3C0 

all  that  it  owes  to  Protestantism,  and  what  is  left  for 
the  people  to  desire  ?  Blot  from  those  nations  all  that 
they  owe  to  popery,  and  it  would  be  like  Moses  lifting 
up  his  wonder-working  rod  heavenward,  and  rolling 
back  the  darkness  that  enshrouded  Esrvpt.  If  this 
does  not  picture  our  idea,  stop  for  a  month  or  a  year  all 
that  Protestantism  is  doing  to  civilize,  enlighteii,  and 
bless  the  earth,  and  the  world  is  moved  and  astounded 
from  its  centre  to  its  circumference ;  even  old  Austria, 
the  Sleepy  Hollow  of  the  world,  would  spring  to  her 
feet  and  ask,  What  is  the  matter  ?  Stop  for  the  same 
time  all  that  popery  is  doing  for  the  same  ends,  and  it 
would  be  no  more  missed  than  is  the  light  of  the  lost 
pleiad  from  the  sky. 

What  means  that  wakening  attention  in  all  civilized 
states  to  the  education  and  elevation  of  the  people  ? 
What  means  that  restless  anxiety  observable  even  in 
the  most  petrified  of  papal  states  to  obtain  natural 
rights,  which  causes  hoary  error  to  shako  its  head  with 
holy  horror  ?  It  shows  the  advancing  inllucnco  of  Prot- 
estantism. 

What  means  that  ubiquitous  influence  of  the  press, 
which  discusses  ;ill  (juestions,  whether  pertaining  to 
CHiurch  or  state,  before  the  people,  and  which  brings 
outth(5  verdict  (jf  the  people  as  freely  iipdn  |)riiice,  ])ope, 
or  prelate,  as  upon  the  most  obscure  of  the  ])eople  ?  It 
^hows  the  advancing  influence  of  Protestantism. 

What  mean  these  railways,  and  telegraphs,  and 
ocean  steamers,  that  arc  converting  seas  into  straits, 
and  that  arc  Ijringing  Canton  and  lifjiidnn,  Liverpool 
;ind  New  York,  within  s|)ciiking  (iistancf,  and  tJi.'it  are 
liringing  nations  the  most  distant  into  acquaintance 


o66  THK     DECLINE     OF     POPERY 

and  brotherhood  ?  They  show  the  advancing  influence 
of  Protestantism. 

What  mean  the  vast  enterprise,  skill,  and  industry 
of  Britain — her  extended  commerce — ^lier  empire,  upon 
which  the  sun  never  sets — her  laws,  extended  over 
millions  of  India — her  protection  of  the  right  wherever 
her  flag  floats  ?  Wliat  mean  the  opening  of  China — 
the  granting  of  liberty  of  conscience  by  Turkey— the 
payment  of  a  Protestant  ministry  from  the  treasury  of 
France?  They  show  the  advancing  influence  of  Prot- 
estantism. 

What  mean  those  white  spots  on  the  moral  map  of 
the  world,  scattered  along  the  western  coast  of  Africa, 
and  all  over  British  India  and  Burmah,  and  rapidly 
multiplying  on  the  sea-coast  of  China,  and  almost  as 
numerous  on  the  Pacific  as  are  its  islands  ?  They 
mark  the  advances  of  Protestantism. 

What  mean  that  expulsion  of  archbishops  from  Sar- 
dinia— that  noble  address  of  the  Roman  people  to  the 
Pope,  in  which  they  tell  him  that  his  claim  of  sover- 
eignty for  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  reminded  them  "  of  the 
fable  where  Jove  gives  a  log  to  be  king  of  the  frogs" — 
the  rapid  reformation  progressing  in  western  Ireland — 
the  yet  growing  influence  of  the  Ronge  movement  in 
Germany — the  collecting  of  large  churches  in  some  of 
our  own  cities  of  abjuring  papists — the  growing  in- 
quiry among  papists  in  all  lands  as  to  religious  things 
and  truths?  All  and  each  .show  the  advancing  influ- 
ence of  Protestantism. 

What  mean  the  rising  cities  of  these  free  .states — 
those  national  grants  of  land  for  the  education  of  the 
people — those  rapidly-multiplying  churches  for  the  wor- 


AND     ITS     CAUSES.  367 

ship  of  God  in  every  direction — those  missionaries  that 
track  the  Indian  through  the  wilderness,  and  that  fol- 
low the  tide  of  emigration  in  every  direction — the 
bringing  under  our  influence,  in  a  few  months,  the  pa- 
pal states  of  Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  California — the 
building  of  cities  and  churches  bv  the  waves  of  the  Pa- 
cific,  and  where,  until  recently,  nothing  in  the  way  of 
religion  dare  be  lisped  save  popish  mummeries  ?  They 
mark  the  advances  of  Protestantism. 

And,  now  that  the  power  to  make  thunder  is  gone, 
what  mean  those  grumblings  and  mutterings  of  the 
Vatican,  coming  in  the  way  of  rescripts  and  pastoral 
letters  against  Irish  colleges,  and  Bible  and  tract  soci- 
eties, and  the  promiscuous  education  of  papist  and 
Protestant  children  ?  What  mean,  among  us,  the  put- 
ting up  of  papal  schools — the  preaching  of  priests  and 
bishops — the  importation  of  mass-mongers  with  long 
coats  and  no  brains — the  forming  of  clubs  to  sustain 
lectures  whoso  objects  are  to  vilify  the  Gospel,  and  to 
prop  up  a  declining  superstition  ?  Tiiey  distinctly 
mark  the  advancing  inlluence  of  Protestantism. 

And  what  mean  the  suppression  of  Protestant  wor- 
ship in  Home — the  expulsion  of  the  Bible  from  its  walls 
—  the  perfect  exclusion  of  ail  Protestant  influences 
from  the  papal  states  of  Ijoth  the  Old  and  Now  World  ? 
ff  Protestantism  is  of  feeble  influence,  and  declining  at 
that,  why  .so  anxious  to  head  it  ofl" every  where  .'  If 
false  in  theory,  and  feeble  in  power,  and  poor  in  re- 
sources, and  endlc^.sly  divided  withal,  it  is  nowhere,  to 
be  feared.  AVc  call,  then,  U|ion  Pope,  prelates,  and 
priests,  ik)  longrr  to  act  as  cowards  in  the  iircsenec  of 
such  a  feeble  fo".     It  can  do  but  littlr,  nor  rnn  it  do 


otiS  T  »i  i:    D  K  ci- 1  -N  i;    o  r    vov  e  k  v 

that  little,  long.  Cxivc  it  fiuo  access,  then,  to  Rome. 
Tell  Spain,  and  Portugal,  and  Italy,  and  Austria,  and 
the  South  American  states,  to  open  their  gates,  to  raise 
the  portcullis,  to  admit  this  declining  system  to  enter, 
and  -without  let  or  hinderance  to  try  its  strength.  Tell 
them  as  freely  to  admit  Protestantism  as  Protestant 
states  admit  popery.  Will  they  do  it?  If  not,  then 
we  nail  to  the  counter  as  a  priestly  falsehood  all  that 
they  utter  as  to  "  the  decline  of  Protestantism ;"  and 
the  man  who,  a  few  weeks  ago,  made  this  the  theme 
of  a  lecture,  whose  feebleness  is  only  equaled  by  its 
falsehood,  and  who  has  since  harangued  in  London  on 
the  liberality  of  Protestantism,  is  probably  at  this  very 
hour  counseling  the  cardinals,  instead  of  opening  these 
nations,  to  put  new  locks  on  all  their  doors. 

But  this  man  has  gone  for  his  pallium.  Do  you 
wish  to  know  what  a  pallium  is?  At  first  it  was  a 
woolen  mantle  sent  by  the  Roman  emperors  to  the 
higher  ecclesiastics  as  a  badge  of  dignity  ;  now  it  is  a 
woolen  band,  three  or  four  fingers  broad,  worn  outside 
the  vestments.  It  is  made  by  the  nuns  of  the  convent 
of  St.  Agnes,  and  from  the  wool  of  consecrated  sheep. 
For  this  bawble,  the  bestowal  of  which  by  the  Pope  is 
necessary  to  the  right  exercise  of  the  functions  of  an 
archbishop,  the  receiver  must  pay  his  holiness  a  very 
large  sum.  Nor  is  it  bestowed  save  on  the  giving  of 
the  most  solemn  pledges  of  canonical  obedience  to  the 
Holy  Sec.  When  our  friend  returns,  wearing  this  fil- 
let made  from  the  wool  of  holy  sheep,  the  faithful  ex- 
pect that  Protestantism  will  pale  in  the  presence  of  this 
silly  gewgaw  from  the  convent  of  St.  Agnes  !  This  is 
the  ridiculous  side  of  the  affair.     But  it  has  a  serious 


A  i\  D     ITS     CAUSES.  369 

one.  This  thing  of  bishops  going  to  Rome  for  vest- 
ments and  investiture  convulsed  kingdoms  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages.  And  why  ?  Beeause  of  their  swearing  al- 
legiance to  Rome,  and  renouncing  their  own  sover- 
eigns. This  is  the  view  of  the  matter  which  now  so 
intensely  agitates  England.  Let  a  serious  rupture  be- 
tween Britain  and  Rome  now  take  place,  and  Wise- 
man will  treat  Victoria  as  Becket  treated  Henry  II. ; 
the  cardinal  would  be  the  commander-in-chief  of  the 
Pope  in  the  British  Isles.  Should  a  serious  rupture  oc- 
cur between  us  and  Rome,  the  man  with  the  fillet 
made  from  the  wool  of  holy  sheep  would  be  here  the 
feudal  baron  and  liege  lord  of  the  Pope,  to  maintain  the 
claims  of  the  most  contemptible  despotism  that  earth 
knows,  in  the  very  heart  of  free  America,  and  under 
the  shadow  of  the  flag  which  secures  to  him  that  lib- 
erty of  conscience  which  popery  in  power  nowhere  re- 
ciprocates. 

But  we  must  close.  Popery  has  rapidly  and  is  rap- 
idly declining.  There  was  a  time  when,  if  it  Avas  not 
respected,  it  was  feared.  But  it  is  not  so  now.  The 
force  of  its  fanaticism  is  spent  and  unfelt.  While  all 
other  institutions  are  rising  with  the  progress  of  soci- 
ety, this  continues  petrified.  It  is  lilu;  a  vessel  bound 
by  a  heavy  anchor  and  a  short  iron  cable  to  the  bottom 
of  the  stream,  while  the  tide  of  knowledge  and  freedom 
arc  rising  around  it.  Its  spiritual  tarill^ — its  restric- 
tions on  th(i  commerce  of  thought — its  taxes  on  the 
bread  of  life — its  efforts  to  bring  sc^ats  in  heaven  into 
tb«',  priestly  market — its  mimic  immolations  of  the  Son 
of  (lod — its  sacrifice  of  the  peoph;  for  the  sake  of  tho 
priest — its  namelcFs  exactions  and  cndles.'^  tyrannies, 


370  Tn  1::    u K c  I- 1 N  !•:    o i-    v o  v k  u  y,  v. t c. 

are  not  much  longer  to  be  borne.  The  Lord  will  con- 
sume it  with  the  breath  of  his  mouth,  and  will  destroy 
it  with  the  brightness  of  his  rising. 

"  Though  well  perfumed  and  elegantly  dressed, 
Like  an  unburicd  carcass  tricked  with  flowers, 
'Tis  but  a  garnished  nuisance." 

From  every  tower  of  Zion  the  watchmen  should  lift 
up  their  voices  together,  and  cry  to  the  people  that 
they  have  nothing  to  fear.  The  world  is  not  to  be  ed- 
ucated back  again  to  the  intelligence  of  the  Dark  Ages. 
While  popery  may  be  compared  to  a  decrepit,  nervous, 
and  wrinkled  old  man,  whose  hearing  is  obtuse,  and 
whose  memory  is  short,  and  who,  heedless  and  forget- 
ful of  the  events  passing  around  him,  is  always  prat- 
tling about  the  past,  Protestantism  is  strong,  and  act- 
ive, and  zealous,  and  enterprising,  and  attractive,  and 
looking  to  the  future.  The  mind  of  the  world  is  with 
it.  Reason  is  with  it.  The  literature  of  the  world  is 
wdth  it.  The  Bible  is  with  it.  God  is  with  it.  The 
entire  current  of  civilization  is  with  it.  And  all  these 
are  against  popery.  The  combat  may  be  protracted, 
but  the  victory  is  certain.  Nor,  in  the  conflict,  will 
the  cause  of  popery  be  much  aided  by  the  support,  nor 
wall  the  cause  of  Protestantism  be  any  weakened  by 
the  assaults,  of  those  whose  chief  aim  and  grand  ambi- 
tion it  is  to  wear  a  fillet  made  from  the  wool  of  holy 
sheep. 


THE     END. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 


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